Run
by liztits
Summary: When Tori gets invited to study at Hollywood Arts, her entire life comes crashing down around her. What started out as a dream come true quickly turns into a battle for survival. ((Jori!))
1. One

**I am aware this first chapter is a little slow. I guess you can skip it and the story won't be affected much, since it's basically just the pilot until a few thousand words in.  
Anyway, read on. :D **

* * *

"Let's see…" I look up from my book to the science project resting on the table. "The bread mould!"

"The bread mould." My partner on the project Ian repeats, typing it into his laptop.  
I lean down, looking throw a magnifying glass at the mouldy piece of bread dangling from the mould tree we've created. "Furry."  
Ian repeats me again before typing it up.  
I take the bread between my fingers, squeezing it softly. "Mushy." Ian types up what I've said again, while I wipe off my hands.

"Next, the fish mould." I pull a face. Definitely not the best science project I've ever had.  
"Fish mould." By the look on Ian's face, I can tell he's not really relishing the idea of mouldy fish either.  
I squeeze it gently, frowning. "Spongy." Gross.  
"Spongy." Ian types it up, frown crossing his face as well.  
I pick up the piece of fish, lifting it slightly before bending down to sniff it. "Stinky." I tell the boy, gagging a little.

Before Ian has time to write anything else down, the front door opens, and my older sister Trina walks in. "I am so upset!" She flings the door shut behind her as I roll my eyes. Trina's upset most days.  
She throws her bag down onto a chair before stomping over to us, waving her arms. "You won't believe who I got partnered with for the big showcase!"  
"Who?" I ask, although I don't really care. Ian spins in his chair, eyeing Trina cautiously.  
"Andrew Harris… A tenth grader!"  
"What's the big showcase?" Ian asks, curiosity over my sister's woe peaking.  
"It's a performance they put on at her school every year where…"  
I'm cut off by Trina. "They invite agents," she pulls Ian up out of his chair, dragging him across the room. "And directors and other super powerful people from show business and it's extremely important to me." She's reached the door. I guess I'll be finishing my science project alone, then. "Which is why I'm very upset and…" She opens the door, practically flinging Ian out by his arm. "And goodbye!" She slams the door in his face and turns to cross the room.  
"Hey!" I protest, even though I already knew what she had planned. "He and I have a science project due tomorrow!" I cross the room and throw up my arms. "I have to turn in my mould bush!"

Trina doesn't care, obviously. "So?" She asks, continuing before I can answer her. "Andrew's coming over and you gotta help us figure out what we're gonna do in the big showcase!" She stands in front of the piano that sits in our living room. "I definitely want to sing."  
She throws her hands down, bashing the keyboard before letting out an ear piercing screech. I wince slightly. "How was that?" She asks, looking impressed with herself.  
"Loud." I answer, semi-sarcastically.  
"Awesome!" I roll my eyes again, but the doorbell cuts me off before I can say anything else. "He's here." She tells me, crossing the room again to open the door. I move to follow her but she turns, throwing up a hand. "Stay!" I pull up short, shooting her a dirty look.

She answers the front door, telling the boy in question to come in.  
"Thanks." He mutters half-heartedly, and I can already tell he's unhappy about working with Trina.  
"Tori," Trina motions towards the boy. "That's Andrew."  
"Andre" He corrects her, throwing down his back and following her across the room.  
"Hey!" I wave, trying to make up for Trina's hostility towards him.  
"You go to Hollywood Arts too?" He asks.  
"No, I'm not a performer." I jab a thumb in Trina's direction. "Just my sister."  
"Yep!" She throws an arm around my shoulder, "I got the talent and she got the strong teeth!" She grabs my jaw and gives my face a small shake. What? Strong teeth? She really couldn't think of anything else to say? "You know, she's never had one cavity."  
"I try not to brag about it." I shrug, sighing.

Andre senses the tension and steps around us. "Oh, nice piano!" He sits down and begins to play, and a smile lights up my face. This kid has serious talent.  
"Oh my god, you're fantastic!" I tell him, sitting down next to him.  
"He's okay…" Trina snorts, rolling her eyes.  
He looks annoyed for a second before looking round the room, then sniffing me. As he picks up my hand, I stop him with the words fish mould, and he immediately lets go of my limb, letting it drop back down onto the keys of the piano.

I help Trina and Andre work through a few songs, and suffer through more of Trina's "singing", and after Andre leaves, I head upstairs to take a shower, and finally wash the smell of mould off me.  
I managed to get most of my project finished when Trina wasn't screaming at me, so I'm feeling pretty good.  
I hear my dad come in as I'm getting changed into my pajamas. He's a police man, so his hours are sometimes all over the place, and I've barely seen him in the past few days so when I've towel dried my hair I head back downstairs.  
"Hey daddy," I great him, flopping down on the couch next to him.  
"Hey sweetie." He replies, not looking away from the television screen.

I look up toward the screen, wondering what could keep my dad's interest and see a news anchor reporting on a new virus.  
"Not much is known at this point, other than the few infected with this new virus are from a tour group returning from South America." The reporter goes on to list symptoms and gives a number to ring if you or anyone you know is affected.  
"Dad?" I tried again after the reporter had finished talking.  
"Yeah?"  
"That virus isn't serious is it?"  
"No, it'll just be one of those scare tactics to get us to spend more on health care or something stupid. If it was really serious they'd have warned us about it in work." He throws and arm around my shoulder and hugs me. "Did you finish your science project?"  
"Eventually, Trina managed to make it take 4 hours longer than it should've though."  
My dad chuckles, roughing up my hair. "Sounds about right." He looks over my shoulder at his watch. "It's getting late though, you better get to bed."  
I stand up, stretching. "Okay dad, night."  
"Night Tori."

* * *

We're halfway through another day of rehearsals when Trina declares that we need a break before running off up the stairs. I watch her go before turning to Andre.  
"You want a drink?" I ask, heading over to the kitchen.  
"Oh, yes please!" He grins, following me towards the fridge before his phone rings. "That's my Grandma, I better take this." He tells me before answering the phone and heading out to the patio.

"No Grandma, listen, there's no way you can drown at my school." Andre's still on the phone to his Grandma as I enter the garden and hand him a glass of juice. "You're not gonna fall in a toilet!" My brow furrows slightly as I listen to their conversation, trying not to laugh. "Look, look…" He moves the phone from his ear while still trying to interrupt the older woman. "I'll call you later!" He yells, finally hanging up.  
"Your grandmothers coming to the big showcase?" I ask him, taking a sip from my drink.  
"Yeah, it's gonna be the first time she's left the house in six years." Andre informs me, and I can't help but look surprised.  
"Why?" I ask.  
"Because the woman's afraid of everything! People, umbrellas, rabbis, bikini's, breakfast foods…" He lists.  
"So if she saw a rabbi in a bikini, eating pancakes…" I joke.  
"The woman would burst into flames." He laughs. "Plus, she watches far too much of the news channel, she thinks that virus those tourists got is gonna kill everyone!"  
"Ah, my dad said it's probably just a ploy to dupe people into buying unnecessary medication."  
"Yeah, people like my Grandma." He chuckles again, and I join in.  
I open my mouth to speak again but I'm interrupted by Trina bashing the keys of our family's piano. "You guys come on!" She yells from inside the house.  
"Back to rehearsal" I sigh, turning and heading into the house.

When we enter the living room, Trina has changed into a dress. "So, what do you think?" She asks, spinning on the spot. "Fabulous, right?"  
"You really need to wear that dress to rehearse?" I ask her, pushing up the sleeves on my cardigan.  
"A performer needs to feel the part to be the part" she tells me patronisingly, tapping me on the nose.  
"I thought we talked about you tapping my nose anymore." I say, a little venom entering my voice.  
She laughs at me anyway, causing my anger to rise a little before waving a hand dismissively in my direction.  
"Okay!" She moves to stand about a foot away from the piano. "We got the comedy stuff down, so let's start with my song."  
"And by your song, I'm guessing you mean the song I wrote?" Andre looks up at her from the piano, obviously annoyed.  
"No one cares who wrote the song!" She laughs to herself. "Now…" She clears her throat. "Go."

Andre begins to play the song he's written and manages to get about a second in before Trina screams at him. "Slower!"  
Andre jumps slightly before complying, and Trina begins to sing. Well, I say sing. It's more a screeching. "Trina?" I interrupt. She carries on for a few more words. "Trina?" I try again.  
"What?!" She demands, looking at me.  
"I think Andre was right, you should let him play the song at a faster tempo!" I tell her, avoiding telling her that if she sings it at a faster tempo it'll be over faster. I love my sister, I do, but she really can't sing.  
"No! It has to be a power ballad!" She tells me, "so all the important people can hear my range and vocal clarity."  
"But I just think…" I try again but she cuts me off.  
"No!" She turns to Andre. "Just take it from 'When I make it shine…"  
Andre complies, continuing to play as Trina screeches out another line, before looking at me. "Do you have any aspirin?"  
I pull the bottle I've been keeping next to the piano for the duration of the rehearsals and hand him some before taking some from the bottle for myself.  
It's gonna be a long day.

* * *

I actually survive helping Trina work on her song. Not that she takes any of mine or Andre's advice, and the whole me helping thing turned out to be pretty pointless. Part of me just thinks she wanted an audience.  
I'm sitting the audience at the showcase, musing over the week I've had and watching two guys dance when I hear shuffling behind me.  
I turn to see an older woman sitting down, clutching her purse with a look of fear on her face.  
"Oh hi! You're Andre's Grandmother?" I ask her, trying to be polite.  
"I don't know you! She yells, crouching down behind the chairs.  
I look at her for a second before deciding it's best not to push her and turn back round to watch the rest of the performance.  
Well, I try to, until I hear someone moaning in pain. Someone who sounds a lot like my older sister. I look at my mom and raise an eyebrow, and she rolls her eyes, obviously thinking Trina is exaggerating about something back stage until the schools councillor crouches down beside us.  
"Excuse me, you're Trina's parents?" He asks, looking concerned.  
"Yes?" My dad confirms at the same time my mom asks why.  
"Please come with me." He tells them, getting up and moving back down along the row. When my parents get up and follow him, I watch them for a second before sighing and traipsing after them.

We follow the guidance councillor back stage and he points towards a crowd of people. "There she is!"  
"Trina!" My mum yells, looking forward. I don't see what the issue is at first but when Trina turns to look at me her tongue is ten times the size it should be.  
"What happened?!" My dad asks, looking as shocked as everyone else.  
Trina mumbles something we don't understand, pointing at her mouth.  
"Oh my god it's huge!" I exclaim, looking over the shoulder of the nurse that's trying to help.  
Trina yells something again, and my mum turns to the nurse holding a tongue depressor.  
"Are you the school nurse?" She asks, even though it's pretty obvious that she is.  
"Yeah…" The nurse looks around. "Does anybody know how this happened?"  
I think for a minute before realising what's wrong. "The Chinese herb gargle!"  
Trina points to her nose and at me, shouting something that sound like yes.  
"What are you talking about?" My dad asks, patting Trina on the shoulder.  
"Trina found this website that shows you how to make this special Chinese herb gargle that's supposed to help you sing better."  
"Well, she must have had an allergic reaction." The nurse tells us, gesturing to my sisters enormous tongue.  
Trina cries out something else that no one understands.  
"Will she be okay?" My mum asks, looking worriedly at my sister. "For a minute I thought it was that new virus."  
"That new ploy for more money." My dad mumbles.  
"Well, her tongue is obviously engorged. And…" She grabs the end of her tongue. "Oh, it's throbbing erratically." Even the nurse looks alarmed at that.  
Trina grasps at her tongue again, eyes wide, and makes noises of agreement.

"Any way she'll be able to perform today?" The councillor pops out from behind the nurses shoulder, jabbing a thumb in Trina's direction.  
"Of course not!" She tells him, which upsets Trina, who grabs the nurses shoulders, trying to say something again. "Stop talking, your tongue could burst!" Trina squeaks at this.  
"I'm sorry sweetie." My mom consoles her, as my dad adds "Next year."  
The nurse grabs Trina's hand and pulls her away. "I'm gonna take her over there and massage her tongue." She tells us, leaving.

We watch Trina walk away before Andre crosses his arms. "I guess my Grandma came here for nothing." He says, and I look at him sympathetically.  
"Wait, does anyone else know Trina's part?" The councillor asks again. Oh no.  
"Her sister does!" Andre points at me. Oh, great. Brilliant.  
"Me sister?" I point at myself, "No, no, no, no, I just helped them rehearse." I hold up my hands. I do not want to do this. "I'm not even a student here! I couldn't go…" I get cut off by Andre pulling me off to the side.  
"You know this whole thing inside and out." He tells me, looking hopeful. "The song, the choreography, you can do this, come on!"  
"Uh-uh" I tell him, shaking my head.  
"She said she'll do it!" He shouts anyway, causing the room to cheer.  
"No I did not say I would!" I squeak at him, before the councillor points at me.  
"She can't go on stage wearing that!" Oh, rude.  
"Excuse me!" I yell, still annoyed that no one is actually listening to me.  
"Go get her something cool to wear!" He shouts to a girl in glasses across the room. She waves her hand in agreement and disappears to get me a new outfit. I bet it's sparkly.  
"I am not going, okay?" I try again, louder, but they drag me off to a different part of backstage, while I protest. I manage to break free and get back into the other room before Andre catches up with me and carries me back toward the crowd of people.  
I flail the entire way, protesting before he reaches the room again.  
"Isn't this kidnapping?" I ask but no one's listening.  
"Put her down over here" the councillor says, and the minute my feet touch the ground I turn and try to run, but hit a wall of people. They grasp at me for a minute before I yell "My dad is a cop" which gets half of them to stop touching me immediately.  
"Take her behind the screen and get her undressed!" A woman says, and a group of girls rush towards me. I can't believe this is actually happening. I can honestly say I've never been undressed by a group of strangers before.  
I hear the councillor say "Just the girls," Which leads me to believe that some of the boys followed us in but someone is pulling off my shoes and it's distracting me.

The girl with the glasses runs back in with a dress and practically shoves me into it. It's sparkly. I knew it would be sparkly. I grumble in disagreement as someone jams my feet into a pair of high tops and a headset is stuck to my head.  
I emerge from the makeshift dressing room a minute later, still angry about what's happening. I definitely didn't agree to any of this.

Another minute later and the councillor, whose name is apparently Lane, is shoving me onto the stage. I try to escape again but he just grabs me and puts me onto a platform. I'm sure there were less people in here before. And now they've all seen me, so I can't run away.  
Andre looks at me and gives me a nod that's supposed to be reassuring before he starts playing.

"Here I am…" I start, eyes wandering the crowd. I continue to sing, but Andre was definitely right about this being an up tempo song. If I'm gonna do this, I might as well do it properly.  
I motion to him to speed up, and he does. I actually get into the song pretty fast, and I think I sound pretty good.  
half a minute later I'm surrounded by flashing lights and dancers and I'm not quite sure how it's happened but the crowd is loving it and I can't keep the smile off my face.  
Before I know it, the song is over and everyone is on their feet cheering. Andre looks happy and runs over, hugging me and lifting me off my feet.

The curtains close and we're back stage, celebrating. I can't believe that people really liked it.  
"You're really Trina's sister?" Lane asks me over the babbling crowd, causing a noise of protest from my sister.  
"Excuse me?" A man is pushing his way through the people that have grouped around me. He stops in front of me. "Who are you?" He asks, smiling.  
"I'm Tori Vega, who are you?" I reply.  
"This is Mr Eikner, our principal." Lane explains, gesturing at the taller man.  
"You don't go to school here?" The principal asks me.  
"No, I just, ah." I point towards Trina, trying to explain but he interrupts me.  
"Look, do you want to?" He asks again.  
"Me?" I ask him in shock. "Uh, well…" I look at Trina and then back to the principal. "Should I?" I ask Andre.  
"Yes!" He tells me, smiling.  
"But the kids who go here are all like, crazy talented!"  
"Yeah, but so are you." Andre tells me again.  
I run my hands over my hair. "But what if I'm not good enough?"  
Everyone starts talking over one another again while I worry, and I notice Andre slipping away from the group.  
The next thing I notice is are the curtains reopening. The crowd becomes silent and looks up at us, and we stare down at them confused, until Andre comes back on stage.  
"Hey!" He shouts, getting the audience's attention.  
"Hey Andre!" His Grandma shouts back.  
He stops and looks at her for a minute before grabbing my arm. "This girl doesn't know if she's good enough to go to school here." He tells the crowd. Oh no, again. "What do you people think?" He asks them.

The crowd erupts in applause again, causing another smile to blossom, and I blush.  
Andre looks at me and raises his arms. "Okay?" He asks.  
I think for a second before I shout "okay!" And jump into his arms, before hugging my family.  
Hollywood Arts. A brand new school. A brand new start.

* * *

It's my first day at my new school, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. I get ready well before I need to leave and sit in the kitchen, watching my dad talk on the phone with someone at work.  
I don't really know what he's talking about, but there was something about a riot breaking out down near the hospital on the news this morning, so I guess it's something to do with that.  
He says something police-y I don't understand to the person on the end of the phone before hanging up and sighing.  
"You okay Dad?" I ask, playing with the last of my breakfast.  
"Yeah, just gonna be a long day today kiddo." He smiles at me. "How about you, excited for your first day?"  
I don't have a chance to answer before Trina comes stomping down the stairs. "Tori we're leaving." She yells in my direction, picking up her bag.  
My dad just chuckles, bending down and kissing me on the top of my head. "Have a good day."  
"I'll try." I reply, following Trina out of the door.

We make it to the school pretty quickly, Trina drives like a maniac, and when we head through the double doors, I'm kind of overwhelmed.  
Everything is bright and colourful and there are kids everywhere dancing and playing instruments and it's insane. I follow after Trina like a lost lamb, not knowing what to do with myself.  
"See" She waves her arms around a little. "It's just a high school."  
"Uhhh, this is not just a high school! These kids are all artsy and creative and talented and I'm just…" I sigh. "Normal."  
"It's okay" For a minute I think my sister's actually going to say something to make me feel better. "There's nothing wrong with being average." Nope. I nod at her. "Anyway, you're not alone, I got your back." She tells me, and I actually feel a little bit better until she starts blabbering with one of her friends and disappears. Great.  
"I'm alone!" I shout after her. The corridors are emptying, which is probably a sign that class starts soon and I have no idea where I'm going.  
"Hey!" I shout to a girl passing with bright red hair.  
"Oh my god, you're Tori right?" She smiles at me.  
"Uh-huh" I confirm.  
"You were so awesome in the big showcase!" I smile at the compliment.  
"Oh, thanks!"  
"My name's Cat." She tells me.  
"Oh, like the animal!" I joke. She doesn't get it.  
"What's the supposed to mean!?" She yells, affronted.  
I eye her curiously for a minute before I reply. "Nothing, I love cats!"  
"Oh, me too! They're so cute!" And without another word, she turns and walks away from me. This day just gets better.  
I attempt again to get directions, this time stopping a guy with a puppet who walks past me.  
"Hey!" I try.  
"Hi." He answers at first, not really looking. Then he looks up. "Hey! Hello!" He looks me up and down. "Female." Female? What? "Yes?" He asks, his voice breaking.  
"Can you tell me where Mr Sikowitz's classroom is?" I ask getting straight to the point.  
"If you head due north from here…" He starts, and I frown. Which direction even is due north? "About thirty paces…" He continues.  
"Paces?" His puppet interrupts him. "The girls not a pirate." I watch the two of them with wide eyes.  
"This is none of your business." The curly haired boy tells his puppet.  
"Sikowitz." The puppet addresses me again. "Down the hall, swing left at the water fountain, second door on your right."  
"Thank you…" I tell them, walking away.  
"Whatever it takes, cupcake." I look back at the puppet and frown before leaving.

I find the classroom eventually, setting down my bag and turning around to look at the room. I turn straight into a coffee cup, and send it spilling all over the guy holding it.  
"Oh my gosh." I don't even know what to say, I've been at this school for 10 minutes and I'm already throwing coffee over people. "I spilled coffee on your…" I start rubbing his shirt with my sleeve. "I think it's coming out."  
He tries to reassure me that it's okay but I feel so bad I keep attempting to clean it up.  
"You might be making it worse." He tells me eventually. I smile up at him, getting a proper look at him for the first time. His hair is so fluffy.  
"Dude." A voice calls from behind him. A female voice. I look up in the direction of the sound. "Why you rubbing my boyfriend?" The girl asks.  
I'd be lying if I said she didn't look a little bit scary. Black clothes, black make-up, tattoos, piercings.  
"Oh." I try, "I just… I spilled coffee on him…" I'm explaining but she cuts me off.  
"Get away from him."  
"Relax" The tall guy tells his girlfriend, moving away from me to kiss her on the cheek.

I don't have a chance to say anything else before what I'm assuming is the teacher bursts through the door, "oh my god there's a huge fire!" he tells us. I look around in panic, and someone screams before he laughs and waves his arm.  
"Kidding, kidding. Just wanted to get your blood pumping." He smiles, "Which I did."  
I move to my seat, sitting down next to Andre. "This is our teacher?" I ask him. He nod to confirm.  
"First I'd like to introduce our new student, Tori." He motions towards me and I give a little wave. "And I'd like to thank Tori for her generous gift of two dollars, that she handed me outside this morning, not necessary, but much appreciated." He holds the money up the air.  
"Why'd you give him two dollars?" Andre asks me, confused.  
"I thought he was homeless" I admit to him, and he nods in understanding.

"Now today!" Sikowitz continues. "We're going to continue our study in group Improv." He points at me again. "Tori I assume you're familiar with Improv."  
"I, uh, well, yes and no." I answer him, embarrassed.  
"What does that mean.  
"..no"  
"Okay, crash course," he moves back over to the board. "Improv! Acting without a script, which means the actors must make up their own actions and dialogue as they perform the scene. Understood?" He doesn't give me a chance to answer. "Excellent! Jade, you will captain the first group of the day." The girl who yelled at my for rubbing her boyfriend earlier stands up, smirking, and heads towards the stage at the front of the room. "Choose your actors!"  
She looks across the room before pointing to the redhead I met this morning. "Cat." She points to a blond boy, and then her boyfriend. "Eli. Beck." And then she says something surprising. "And Tori." I look up at her, obviously unwilling, but Andre motions for me to take to the stage so I do it.  
"Okay, let's give them a place." Sikowitz says, standing behind Jade.  
"Home!" The boy with curly hair shouts out.  
"Home" Sikowitz repeats, writing it on the board and ignoring the boy arguing with his puppet. "And now we need a situation."  
"Big news" Andre provides.  
"Andre, nobody wants to see big nudes." The class looks at Sikowitz in confusion.  
"NEWS." Andre tries again.  
"Ah, that's different. News!" He writes it down on the board.  
"Why don't you go wait in the hall." Jade tells me, pointing to the door to the left of the stage.  
"Uh, okay." I agree, heading outside.

I can't really hear what they're saying from the door which I'm sure Jade's done on purpose, but Sikowitz moves to the back of the room and points, signalling for the improv to start.  
They do a little bit of the scene before Jade heads over to the door, grabbing my arm harder than is necessary and pulling me into the room. "I went to the animal shelter." Oh no. "And got us a dog!"  
"Uh, yep, I'm the new family dog!" I don't know what to do in this situation. Or what I've done to Jade in the half an hour I've been attending this school. "Woof."  
"Sikowitz," Jade practically saunters to the front of the stage. "Will you please tell this amateur that dogs can't talk." She turns to look at me. "And that they don't walk on two legs." When Sikowitz doesn't reply, Jade yells at him.  
"Oh, I'm sorry" He hold up a coconut. "I was sucking the milk out of this coconut. But it's true Tori, if you're gonna play a dog, be a dog."  
Jade looks at me over her shoulder and I frown, getting down on my hands and knees. "Woof."  
"And action!" Sikowitz starts us off again.  
"I went to the animal shelter and I got us a dog." Cat and Eli begin to pet me.  
"Can the dog sleep in our room?" Beck asks, causing Jades face to drop.  
"No, honey, it can't." She tells him. "Uh oh, looks like this dog has bugs in her fur!" She picks at my hair.  
"uh, Woof?"  
"Ew!" Cat and Eli start at the same time, standing up and moving away from me.  
"Oh it's okay!" Jade moves away from the stage. "I read on the internet that coffee works great for getting rid of fur bugs." She picks up another kids iced coffee and walks back to the stage.  
"Maybe you should, uhm." Beck tries, but Jade ignores him.  
"Jade!" Andre shouts from the audience, and I release what she's going to do, but it's too late and I'm covered in cold coffee.  
"What's the prob, dog?" She asks, glaring at me. I don't know what to do, and everyone is looking at me, and there are ice cubes in my hair, so I leave.

* * *

I stop at the stairs in the main hallway, not looking when I sit down and end up with a face full of butt. Shooting up off the stairs, I walk back toward my locker.

"Whatchu doing?" Andre asks me, coming from around the corner.  
"Calling my mom to tell her I wanna go back to my old school." I tell him, already dialling numbers on my phone.  
"Why?" He asks, like he can't see I'm covered in coffee.  
"'Cause I don't like having black coffee in my hair!"  
"Then I'll get you some cream and sugar, everything will be chill." He tries to joke but I put my phone to my ear.  
"Hey, mom.." I try but he grabs my phone and hangs up, putting the phone in his pocket.  
"Gimme back my mom!"  
"You're gonna quit this school on your first day just because of one mean girl?"  
"It's not just her, I don't fit in here, with all this." I throw my hands up.  
"Come on, this place isn't that different from other schools."  
"Oh come on, like regular schools have improv classes with bare-foot teachers, nerds with puppets and bi-polar cats and mean girls that make you bark like a dog!"

The aforementioned nerd with puppet runs up to us. "Uh, you guys…"  
The puppet interrupts him. "Sikowitz wants you both back in class."  
"He asked me to tell them!"  
"See!" I point at the boy and his puppet. "This doesn't happen at my old school!"  
"Will you guys be cool?" Andre asks them.  
"Him?" The puppet replies, "Be cool?" He laughs.  
"You're a demon!" They boy yells back.  
"You guys!" Cat comes rushing around the corner now. "Sikowitz really wants everybody back in class!"  
"And you really wanted a date to the prom last year, but you didn't get one, did ya?" The puppet talks again.  
"What's that supposed to me!?" Cat yells.  
"Rex!" Nerdy boy yells. I assume that's the puppets name.  
"Tell your puppet to stop being mean to me." Cat cries.  
"Don't call him a puppet, that's an offensive term!" What is with this kid?  
"Yeah, this schools pretty normal." I tap Andre on the shoulder and move away from the group.  
"Just please go back to class and tell Sikowitz we'll be there in a minute." He tells the other two.  
"You better hurry!" Cat tells us, to which Rex interjects "yeah!"  
"I was gonna say yeah!" The other boy walks off, arguing with the puppet.  
I cross my arms and look at Andre.  
"Okay, this school is not normal."  
"Really?" I roll my eyes dramatically.  
"You're not normal either." He tells me, moving back towards me. "I've seen what you can do on stage. You're special. You're fantastic. You belong at this school." He walks off, leaving me standing in the corridor. He turns before he reaches the corner. "Normal's boring."

"It's true." Cat tells me, suddenly by my side again.  
"That normal's boring?" I ask.  
"No, that no one asked me to the prom last year!" She informs me before turning and heading off in the opposite direction.  
I sigh and look around the hallway one last time before heading out of the double doors and walking home.

* * *

I've been home for about ten minutes when my dad bursts through the front door, looking frantically around the house.  
"Tori, what are you doing here?" He asks, "And where's your mother? And Trina?"  
"I came home from school early, Trina's still at school, and Mom's not here. What's going on dad?" I notice the way his blazer is ripped and my eyes widen in alarm. "What happened to you?"  
He doesn't answer me, switching on the tv instead. A news reporter, standing on Hollywood Boulevard in front of a burning car fills up the screen.  
"Still no explanation for this wave on unexplained killings that's sweeping across the city." She stops at the sound of something hitting the ground behind her. "A deadly crime spree with no end." The report stops, eyes widening in alarm at something behind the camera, and before the camera man has time to react, the camera's knocked out of his hands, hitting the floor, and someone starts to scream. I flinch, looking back up at my dad and ignoring the tv switching to a news anchor advising everyone to stay indoors.  
"Dad? What's happening?" I ask again, watching as he checks the house.  
"There's something happening. People have just gone insane. I watched… I saw I guy rip out Gary's throat. I had to shoot him." He sounds like he's in shock. "We have to leave. Now. Get out of LA. It's not safe here. Do you know what your mom was doing today?"  
"She said something about going to grandmas, I think. Dad, I think you should rest. Sit down a minute."  
"No!" He yells, at me, making me jump. His eyes are wide and frantic. "Go and pack a bag, now, and some stuff for Trina, five minutes. Go." I don't want to argue with him when he's like this, so I rush upstairs, cramming as many clothes as possible into an old holdall. I pull on my favourite jacket, an old leather one I found in a goodwill god knows how long ago and head back downstairs in time to hear my dad tell my mom he loves her.  
"Alright." He turns to look at me, running a hand through his greying hair. "Your mom is safe at your grandma's for now. We're gonna go to your school and get Trina, then head over there. Okay?"  
I nod in agreement and he takes the bag out of my hand, picking up the one resting on the floor next to the kitchen table and walking through to the garage. I follow him not really knowing what to say. He throws both bags in the trunk of the car, before moving around to a lock box and fumbling in his pocket for a small key to open it.  
I widen my eyes when he pulls out his spare gun and ammo for it. "Do you really need two guns Dad?" I ask, watching as he loads bullets into it and check the safety is on.  
"This isn't for me. It's for you." He tells me, holding the gun out to me handle first.  
"Dad, I don't know how to use a gun! I don't need that, I'm with you, you'll keep me safe." I protest, eyes locked on my dad's shaking hand.  
"Tori, please take it. You need it." He thrusts it at me again, but I don't take it. "TORI!" He yells at me again, "If something happens, if I can't keep you safe, you need this."  
My own hand is shaking when I finally take it off him. He throws a holster at me and I put it around my waist, slotting the gun into it.  
He gets in the car and pulls out his own gun, filling the handle with bullets.  
"Look, Tori." He holds up a piece of metal. "This is a magazine. Bullets go in here. And it slots into here." He slots the magazine into the back of the gun. "And this here, this is the safety." He points the button. "The guns not gonna fire if that's on, so make sure you take it off if you have to use it, okay?" I nod. "You know how to fire it, right?" He asks.  
"I have an idea." I tell him, my voice cracking.  
"Hey, it's gonna be okay." He leans across and lifts up my chin, looking in my eyes. "It's just for safety, okay? I'm here." I nod again, feeling a little better, and my dad uses the remote to open the garage.

Our street is pretty quiet, there are a few people outside boarding up their windows. Our next door neighbour is standing out on his lawn, laughing at the people who're making their houses safer. My dad shakes his head.  
"What's causing this?" I ask him as he pulls out of our neighbourhood. "I know you know, I can tell by the look on your face, so don't lie to me, Dad."  
"Those tourists." He starts, swerving to avoid a bike abandoned in the road. "The ones that got sick in South America? Whatever they caught, it changed them, did something to their brains. The hospital thought they had them contained, but when one of them went in to try and loosen their restraints, they got bitten. And it spread. They didn't even realise until it was too late." He swerves again, this time avoiding a car left in the road, its door wide open.  
I'm quiet for a minute before I realise why this all sounds so familiar. "This sounds like a lame zombie movie, Dad? Do you realise how insane this is? This doesn't happen."  
"Well, it happened kiddo." He sighs. "I… I watched my best friend get murdered today, a guy just ripped him apart with his bare hands. And then Gary, he didn't… He just got up, and he moved toward me, and I thought he needed to go to the hospital. Then he lunged at me, and his eyes were just empty…" My dad trails off again, watching the road ahead. "That's why you need the gun Tori."  
"Dad, I'm sorry, I didn't know." He doesn't answer me, just nods and continues to watch the road.

* * *

The further toward the school we get, the more signs of something happening we see. My dad takes back roads, trying to avoid traffic, and people, and by the time we reach Hollywood Arts, we can see buildings burning in the distance.  
The schools quiet, though.  
"Do you think they've evacuated everyone?" I ask, turning to my father.  
"It looks possible" he tells me, looking around. He heads into the school and I follow after him. It's definitely too quiet for the time of day that it is, so it looks like I was right.  
"Tori, if Trina was still here, where would she hide?" He asks me. I give him a list of places she's spoken to me about before. The last one is the Black Box Theatre.  
"Alright, can you check there? I'll sweep the rest of the rooms and meet you back here?"  
"Are you sure?" I ask him, nervous now. Honestly, I don't really believe him about what's happening, but the thought of being alone here is still scary.  
"You'll be okay." He tells me, then taps the gun resting on my hip. "Don't be afraid to use it. And if you have to… Just, aim for the head, okay?" I gulp at his words, nodding, and watch him head off up the stairs.

I walk on my own for about a minute before I start feeling weird, like something's breathing down my neck. I move my hand to my waist, pulling the gun out from its holster and trying to copy how I saw my dad holding his.  
I don't intend on using, but if say, Jade, was lurking around a corner, waiting to jump out and scare me, I'm sure me pointing a gun at her would stop her from ever doing it again. Or she'd just knock it out of my hands.  
I adjust my grip a little, trying to hold it tighter, and round the corner, stopping in front of the door to the theatre. My hands actually shaking as I reach for the door handle.  
I drop my hand for a second and take a deep breath before reaching out again, pushing the door open and sliding in through the gap I make.  
"Trina?" I whisper, "Trina, are you here?" I stop in the center of the room, looking around cautiously.  
Something feels… off. Like there's someone in here. I hear a shuffle behind me, and my suspicions are confirmed. I freeze, listening to the person move quietly closer.  
I spin, squeezing my eyes shut lifting up the gun into the face of my would be assailant, who lets out a small squeak.  
I crack one of my eyes open. "Cat?"  
The redhead is standing in front of me, staring at my gun and shaking. I quickly lower it. "Sorry, I thought you were going to kill me." I laugh sheepishly. "What are you still doing here?"  
"I got separated, and then I heard people shouting, and someone started shooting, so I hid in here, why are you here?"  
"Me and my dad are looking for Trina. Have you seen her?" Cat shakes her head.  
"She probably went with the men who came to take us somewhere safe, they took everyone." I nod, fumbling to put my gun away when Cat gasps again at something behind me.  
I turn to see a tall blond boy moving towards us.  
"Sinjin, what're you still doing here?" Cat asks him. He doesn't answer her, just continues shuffling towards us. "Sinjin?" Cat tries again. He groans.  
"Cat, get back." I tell her, stepping back and keeping her behind me. "Hey, kid, stop moving!" I yell at him. He carries on walking towards us. "I said stop!" I yell again, moving my hand to take the safety off the gun.  
He still doesn't stop, rambling towards us, and I panic. I don't know what to do. My mind goes black as I aim down, shooting the gun in an attempt to frighten the boy away.  
Apparently my aim is off, because instead of hitting the floor I hit is knee. Cat squeals, but the boy doesn't stop, his face remains emotionless as he carries on moving, blood dripping down his leg.  
"Sinjin?" Cat tries one last time. He's too close now. We can't get around him, and I don't have a choice. My mind runs through a million scenarios, but when he grabs my arms, I squeal, lifting the gun up under his chin and squeezing the trigger.  
The bullet passes straight through his head, splattering blood and bits of skull behind him as he drops to the floor. Cat squeaks again as I back us away from the body.  
I don't know what to do, again, my eyes are wide as I stare at the body on the floor. My hands shake and I drop the gun, hearing it clank against the floor.  
"I… I shot him. In the head." A weird noise the sounds half like laughter and half like sobbing rips through my chest as I sink to the floor. "I killed him." Cat moves to crouch next to me, rubbing my arm softly.  
"He would've killed you." She tells me, sounding very unlike the girl I met that morning.  
"How do you know?" I ask, breathing in deeply. "What if he just wanted help?"  
She points to something in the corner, and when I look up I see the mangled remains of Eli, the boy from the improv class this morning.  
"He did that. I saw him." Cat's crying now, staring at the body of the other boy. "He was trying to protect me, he hid me, said he'd lead them away but he didn't get very far."  
I rub her arm comfortingly for a minute before I realise what she's said.  
"Wait, there are more?" I ask Cat, eyes widening. She opens her mouth to respond but the door swings open, banging against the wall.

* * *

I pick up the gun from the floor, spinning and aiming through the door, set to squeeze the trigger when the figure in the doorway calls out.  
"Tori!"  
"Dad?"  
My dad walks into the room, looking around before talking. "I heard gunshots, are you okay?"  
I point to the body on the floor and my dad immediately understands, walking forward and wrapping his arms around me.  
"Oh, baby girl, it's okay. I've got you now."  
My dad's arm moves and for a second I'm confused until I see a shock of red hair squeezing into the hug.  
"Who's this?" My dad asks, obviously confused by the small girl hugging him.  
I break the hug, standing back and motioning with the gun. "This is Cat, she's in some of my classes. I found her in here. No Trina though, although Cat said she probably went with whoever came to evacuate the school." I motion to the lifeless body of Sinjin. "There are more of those too, apparently. So we should probably leave."  
"Good idea, let's get to your Gran's and then we can figure out how to find Trina."  
We start walking out of the room and I get to the door before I realise Cat isn't following me.  
"Cat, come on, you can't stay here!" I tell her.  
"But I'm scared to go outside." Her voice cracks slightly as she speaks and I can't help but feel sorry for her.  
I extend my hand. "Come on, I won't let anything happen to you." She crosses the room and takes my hand, grasping it tightly.  
"Promise?"  
"I promise."

We make it back to the car safely, but when my dad starts the engine, the noise starts to attract those… things.  
"Dad?" He looks up through the rear view mirror and sees what I'm looking at. "I think we should go now." Cat's watching through the window as well, eyes wide. I don't know any of the teenagers creeping out of the school and towards the car, but she must. Her eyes fill with tears again.  
"Hey, Cat, sweetie? Don't look. Just don't look, come here." I pull her towards me, let her bury her face into my neck and nod to my dad, who quickly drives out of the car park and heads towards my Grans house.

I stay in the back of the car with Cat as we drive towards my grandmothers. It takes her about fifteen minutes to fall asleep, babbling something about her brother warning her this would happen. She doesn't move from her position on my lap, just curls up more, snuggling into my chest.  
Part of me feels weird about letting a girl I've known less than a day sleep on me, but I don't want to wake her, so I leave her be, watching the streets pass through the window.

"Why was she still in the school?" My dad asks eventually.  
"She told me she got separated from the rest of the students, heard people shouting and shooting and hid in the theatre with Eli." I reply, watching the smaller girl twitch in her sleep.  
"And where's Eli?" Dad asks again.  
"He… He didn't make it. He tried to lead those things away, to save her. I guess he did save her, they didn't find her. I think she saw everything."  
"Poor kid." My dad sighs, looking up at us through the rear view mirror for a second before his eyes flick back to the road.

It's getting harder for him to drive, the closer to my grandmother's house we get. The roads are full of cars, and bikes, and people. Not alive people. Some of them are even in bits. I have to close my eyes eventually, unable to look at the road.  
"Shit!" I must've drifted off because my dad swearing jolts me up. Cat wakes up at the same time, looking around in confusion.  
"Dad, what's wrong?" I ask, looking around. I don't even recognise where we are.  
"That's your Gran's house." He points to a house in the middle of the street that's engulfed in flames.  
"Why is it on fire if someone lives there?" Cat asks, but I don't reply, instead pushing her off me and reaching for the door handle.  
"Tori no!" My dad yells at me.  
"But we've gotta find Mom! She won't be there, she'll be hiding somewhere. She'll be safe." I reach for the door handle again but the sound of movement stops me.  
"We're too close to the hospital." My dad tells me, putting the car into drive. "They're everywhere. We have to go."  
"We can't go, what about Mom?!" I yell at him, feeling desperate.  
He doesn't answer me, instead starting to drive up the street. We get about half way up before we see the crowd. "Shit." My dad mutters again.  
"How are there this many already?" I ask, eyes sweeping the crowd.  
"The hospital was full, and when they got out, they spread. Fast." He slams the car into reverse, swinging it round and starting to drive the way we came. There are more of them this way now as well.  
"Dad, I really think you should drive faster." I tell him, watching as Cat buries her face into the seat of the car.  
"I'm trying Tori." He tells me, manoeuvring the car around another car, lying on its side. The people outside the car, the ones that are infected, are getting closer and closer.  
"Dad…" I don't know what else to say to him, watching as he tries to speed up.  
Not fast enough, as I hear one of them bang on the window. I pull my gun out of its holster, sighing before looking up.  
I almost drop my gun.  
"Mom?"

* * *

**A/N:**

Hello buttercups, I'm sorry that the first half of this is literally just the pilot episode but it helps me set the scene in my head.  
All I've done for a week is watch Victorious and play The Last of Us/State of Decay. I have a huge lady boner for zombie stuff.  
So this happened.  
It's probably gonna be a Jori Fic, and I'm flakey as balls at actually uploading stuff on a schedule so I apologise in advance.  
And I tried to Americanize my words because I'm writing as Tori but it's hard because I am old and british. Okay I'm not old, but u kno.

I would love love love it if you reviewed and favourited, not that you should feel that you have to, but reviews make me happy. And inspire me.

Thank you for reading!


	2. Two

"Mom?"  
"Tori…" My dad begins, trying to distract me.  
"Mom?" I watch my mother, or what's left her, run a bloodied hand along the window, palm flat against glass. Her mouth opens in a silent groan as her eyes roam the inside of the car.  
"That is not your mother." My dad tells me, trying to pull the car away from the growing mob converging on the car.  
I know he's right, she's not there anymore, clothes covered in blood and dirt, eyes soulless, but I can't help reaching my hand out and placing it over hers on the glass. Which is a mistake.

I hear the glass break before I see it, and automatically rear back from the window, squashing Cat into the seat. My mother reaches through the broken glass, not feeling the shards puncture her skin and grabs my ankle, smearing blood up my trouser leg. I scream in response, kicking wildly and almost forgetting the gun clutched in my hand.  
My foot connects with her shoulder but she doesn't let go, hanging on tightly and using my leg to pull herself up into the gap, rubbing more blood and dirt into my pants as she does.  
"Tori!" My dad yells, speeding up to try and shake her loose but she's almost halfway through the window. I know what I have to do.  
"I'm sorry." I whisper sadly, eyes welling with tears, pulling up the gun and aiming. I squeeze my eyes shut, feeling the first few tears drop onto my cheeks and pull the trigger.  
Her corpse falls from the window, bouncing slight as it hits the street and rolling, before getting pulled under one of the tires of my father's SUV with a sickening crunch.  
"Tori…" My dad tries again, and I can see the tear tracks running down his face.  
"Don't." I sob, looking through the shattered remains of my window and pulling in a shaky breath. "Just drive."

* * *

It takes Cat about five minutes to snuggle back into my side, and this time, I don't really mind it. It's kind of comforting, listening to her soft snoring.  
I wrap an arm around her slender shoulders, and really look at her for the first time. She looks a lot younger when she's sleeping. The worry lines she's been wearing for most of the day smooth out, even if she's still frowning a little in her sleep.  
It occurs to me that I literally know nothing about her, besides the fact she goes to Hollywood Arts... went to Hollywood Arts. I'm not really sure but I don't think that school's going to be an issue for the foreseeable future.  
I shouldn't have left earlier, I should've waited for Trina, asked for a ride home.  
Where is she? And the others? Andre, that nerdy guy, I even find myself wondering where Beck and Jade are, if they even got out.  
I never even asked Cat about anyone else. She didn't mention them, but what if they were turned, if they were the ones who ripped poor Eli apart?  
I didn't even ask about her family either. Shit.  
Part of me wants to wake her, ask her about it, but I think that'd do more harm than good right now.  
I sigh softly, letting my head hit the back of the seat. We are royally screwed.

I watch as we drive through the city, and buildings begin to thin out more, giving way to forest. My dad turns off the road and onto a dirt track, causing the car to start bumping quietly along.  
"Where are we going?" I ask quietly, trying not to disturb Cat.  
"There's an old rangers station out here, about an hour away, I think it's quiet enough up there that we can rest and try and figure out where to go next…" He sighs before looking at me through the mirror. "Tori, about your mom…" He tries to start.  
"Dad, I don't want to talk about it. I shot her, and that's that. She's gone. I can't change that, and neither can you." My voice softens slightly. "I'm sorry I yelled at you earlier." I shiver slightly at the breeze coming in through the broken window and feel Cat pull herself into my side more. "We need to fix this window soon though, it's getting cold."  
My dad nods, sensing I don't want to talk and turns his eyes back to the road.

* * *

It's getting dark by the time we pull up outside the rangers' station. It's ancient, the woods started to rot away on the patio and I'm not even sure it has electricity. I can practically smell the damp from the car.  
"Stay here." My dad tells me, leaning over to open the glove compartment and pull out a torch.  
"Dad?" I don't like the idea of sitting in a car in the wilderness at all.  
"I'm just gonna check its safe, okay? I'll be back in two minutes." He slides out of his seat before I can answer, clicking his torch on and holding it up under his gun, and heading up the steps to the cabin.

This must be the longest two minutes of my life. I can't stay still in my seat, shifting and trying to look out of all the windows at the same time, afraid more of the infected will come piling up to the car.  
"Tori?" My wiggling must've woken Cat because she's blinking up at me, rubbing the sleep from one of her eyes. "Where are we?"  
"We're safe, for now. I think. My dad's checking that cabin to see if we can stay there." She nods, looking around the car.  
"Once my brother ran away to cabin and when we found him he'd eaten his pants." Cat tells me nonchalantly, watching the cabin door over my shoulder.  
"Cat?" She looks at me. "Where are…" I start but I'm interrupted by my dad coming out of the house and waving to us.  
"House is empty, girls! Come on!" Cat clambers over me and out of the car, heading toward my dad. "Can you get the keys from the car Tori?" He calls to me, heading back towards the house.  
I sigh and slide out of the seat, rounding to the driver's side to lean in and pull out the keys.  
I'll talk to Cat about it eventually, when we're settled.

I stop at the boot of the car to see what my dad packed, but instead I find what my mother hadn't.  
A couple of bags of food, probably from this morning, rest in the boot of the car, and I rummage through them, pulling out a few boxes of stuff you don't need to cook.  
It's mostly cereal and pop tarts, but I'm so hungry I don't care. I'm closing the boot when I have another after thought, and I put the bags and food down onto the floor, looking for the roll of duct tape my dad usually keeps in his trunk. I find it sitting on top of a bin liner and pull them both out, reaching up with my spare hand to grab the door of the trunk.  
A few minutes later, the broken window is taped over and I head into the house to find Cat wandering round while my dad lights candles. Definitely no electricity. Fabulous.  
"What were you doing?" He asks me, placing the last candle on the old desk that sits in the middle of the room.  
"Taping up the window" I tell him, dumping our bags on the floor. "And I found some food in the trunk of the car."  
"Yay, pop tarts!" Cat immediately grabs them out of my hand and rips open the box.  
"Hey, don't eat them all, we've gotta make this stuff last." I tell her, taking the box out of her hand and giving her one of the foil wrappers. She pouts a little. "Here, have some cereal too." I hand her the box, trusting that she won't eat it all and she goes to sit in a musty old chair in the corner of the room.  
"Where'd you find the candles?" I ask my dad, watching as he starts to push some shelves up against one of the windows.  
"There was a box of stuff sitting on the desk. Guess they've never had electricity up here." He muses, giving the shelves a final shove. "Can you put those bags out of the way?"  
I bend down, picking up the bags I'd just dropped and head over to a doorway at the back of the room, and place them gently inside.

My dad is still pushing stuff around, blocking off doors and windows so I move over to help him.  
"You should get something to eat." He tells me as I try help him push a filling cabinet up against the door.  
"I will after we've done this." I practically grunt, shoving most of my body weight into the furniture. My legs slide backwards from the cabinet, and it doesn't budge.  
Dad laughs at me. "Just go and eat kiddo, I've got this." He pushes the cabinet like it weighs nothing and it slides up against the door. "There was some camping gear in the back, someone must've stashed here, Cat's set you and her up beds in there."  
"What about you?" I ask, leaning up against the desk.  
"I'm gonna stay in here, just in case. Keep an eye on the door." He tries to smile at me.  
I frown back. "You need to get some sleep."  
"I will, now go and eat."  
"Make sure you do too." I sigh in defeat and head over to where Cat's sitting, taking the box out of her hand and shoving a handful of cereal into my mouth.

* * *

We last another hour before my dad sends us to bed, telling us we need to get some rest if we're gonna figure out what we're doing tomorrow.  
I didn't even think to pack pajama's, so we end up sleeping in our clothes although I change from my solid jeans into a pair of sweats, balling up the jeans and throwing them into the corner of the room before huddling down under the duvets.  
"Tori?" The Cat shaped lump on the other side of the room mumbles.  
"Yeah, Cat?"  
"Do you think that the others got out okay?" She sounds scared.  
"I bet they did. They're probably at some fancy camp somewhere, eating hot food and sleeping on actual beds." I'm lying, and she probably knows it, but she sighs softly and mummers her agreement.  
"My brother has to go to the hospital sometimes, he has… issues. My parents were there today, with him. They had a meeting with his doctor about changing his medicine. They were… I don't think they…" She starts crying, cutting off what she was going to say.  
I shuffle across the room wrapped inside my sleeping bag, bending down next to her.  
"I just… Jade's my best friend. I know she acts like a complete gank to everyone, but when it's just me and her, she's so lovely. I don't want her to die." She sniffles then hiccups. I don't know what to say to her, to comfort her, so I settle for rubbing her shoulder through the sleeping bag. I think she understand that I don't know how to deal with what she's told me though. "Will you stay over here with me, please?"  
"Yeah, I'll sleep right here." I lay down on the floor next to her, shuffling to try and get comfortable.  
Cats hand reaches out from under her sleeping bag and runs down my arm. When she finds my hand she grasps it tightly, still sniffling.  
It's gonna be a long night.

* * *

I wake up to the sound of furniture scrapping across the floor. The suns rising, painting a pattern from around the boxes my dad must've stacked up against the window last night.  
Cat's hand is still clutching at mine, and she's rolled closer to me than when we fell asleep, so I get up carefully, sliding out of my sleeping bag and prying her hand from mine gently.  
I stretch, looking around the cabin in daylight it's actually kinda cute. You know, if we weren't using it to hide from… whatever it is we're hiding from.  
I'm still refusing to call them zombies, it sounds too much like a cheesy movie and there's nothing cheesy about it.  
I slip my shoes back on and walk through to the other room, looking around for my dad. I find him out on the porch, playing with a shotgun.  
"Where'd you find that?" I ask, stepping through the door.  
"It was strapped under the desk, found some shells in the drawer too. I was just gonna see if it works. Stand back." He moves down off the porch and stands facing a tree, holding the handle of the gun to his chest.  
I flinch at the noise it makes, louder than anything I've heard since we got here, and watch as it blows away a good portion of the tree. My dad looks up at me and grins before lowering the gun and rubbing bits of tree bark from his shirt.  
"Definitely still works." He tells me, coming back to the house and wrapping an arm around my shoulder. I'm surprised by it, but lean into his hold, wrapping my own arms around his waist. "I love you, Tori." He sighs. "I wish I could fix this for you, and Trina. I wish your mother hadn't… that she wasn't…" He trails off.  
"I love you too Dad. It's not your fault." I tell him and he places a kiss on the top of my head.  
Then the door slams open and Cat comes rushing through, eyes huge and still half wrapped in her sleeping bag.  
"I heard a noise" She pants, looking around. "What's happening."  
"Dad found a new toy." I tell her as my dad raises the gun still in his other hand for her to see.  
"Oh! One time my brother found a gun at my grandpa's and shot a duck." She tells us, face serious.  
When we don't reply she quickly changes subjects. "I'm hungry."  
"You girls go in and get something to eat, I'm gonna grab the map from the car and start looking for places that could be safe."  
"We'll save you a pop tart" I tell him, leaning up to kiss him on the cheek before herding Cat back inside.

Once my dad's collected the map from inside the car, we sit around it while my dad ponders where they could've taken Trina and the others when they evacuated yesterday.  
"Tori's Dad?" Cat's wiggling around next to me, eyes roaming the map.  
"Call me David, Cat." Cat looks confused.  
"Why would I call you David?" She sounds genuinely confused as well.  
"Because that's my name." My dad laughs. "What's up?"  
"Do you think that maybe they went to the Stadium?" She points at it on the map. "It's big."  
"That's… good thinking Cat!" My dad sounds surprised. He circles Dodgers Stadium with a pen from the car before continuing to look at the map.  
"What about the airport?" I suggest. "If they've got helicopters to take people somewhere safe, maybe they took people there first?"  
"Also good." Another circle on the map. He marks off a few of the larger police stations and some stuff to do with the military before folding the map back up. "It's still early, so we can set off as soon as you guys are ready. We'll head to the bigger places first, they're probably looking for stragglers anyway."  
"Are we taking the back streets again?" I ask, watching my dad stand up and start collecting up things to take with us.  
"Yeah, and I'll probably need to find a gas station as well, cars gonna be running on fumes by the time we hit central LA." I nod and get up myself, Cat mirroring me as we move to get our stuff packed.

I've changed into jeans again, a fresh pair this time, and given Cat a jacket that doesn't completely drown her, and I'm sliding my gun into it's holster when she speaks.  
"We should take the sleeping bags, in case we have to stop somewhere." She informs me, bending down to roll up hers.  
"Good idea, we don't know what we'll run into." I roll up my own and tuck it under my arm before picking up our bags.  
Cat grabs the cereal as we walk through the main room and to the car, pouring some into her mouth. I'm half tempted to scold her for eating food we need but she looks so much happier than she did last night that I let it slide.

"Sleeping bags?" My dad asks when we reach the car.  
I nod. "We don't know what we'll run into, might help to be prepared."  
"We won't need them, we're gonna Trina and get out of here today, you'll see." He sounds a little desperate, so I don't press him, just smile and agree, and watch him get into the car. I must look worried, because Cat squeezes my arm when she passes me to get into the car. I stand there for a minute, contemplating what's going on with my father before he beeps the cars horn, making me jump.  
I slam the trunk door closed and round to the passenger's side, clambering in as my dad starts the engine.

* * *

We drive for a few miles before we reach a petrol station.  
"Tori, can you put the gas into the car while I keep watch?" My dad asks.  
"Yeah, I can do that." I unbuckle my seat belt and slide from my seat while my dad does the same.  
"What should I do?" Cat asks, moving to get out of the car as well.  
"Stay in here and keep a watch on the road, if you see anything moving in the distance, let us know." Dad answers quickly, and Cat nods her head.  
I hear the sound of the sunroof opening and when I look at the car Cat's head is poking out like a meerkat. I chuckle, and my dad looks at me quizzically until he notices Cat too.  
"She's definitely… something" He chuckles to himself, rounding the side of the car.  
It takes a couple of minutes to fill the tank up, Dad and Cat standing watch. It's quiet around here, there's only a few houses, and whoever lives in them has either left or is hiding. Or worse.  
"You think we should check inside?" I ask as I fill a gas canister from the car with extra fuel. "There might be someone hiding. Or some more food."  
"We don't need extra food, we're getting out of here today." My dad tells me, looking annoyed.  
"Yeah, but just in case." I argue weakly. "What if they've moved on and we've gotta drive further?"  
"They won't have." He snaps as I place the fuel pump back, but wanders over to the building anyway.  
"What's up with your dad?" Cat asks me from the roof of the car, which she's managed to squeeze through the sunroof to sit on.  
"I don't know, I think losing my mom's stressed him out. He'll be fine." I tell Cat, but I don't really believe myself. My dad's behaviour is stressing me out.  
"Mmkay." She goes back to watching the road, even though it looks like we're the only sign of life for miles.

Dad stalks back over a minute later, thrusting a bag full of junk food at me and muttering about no one being in the shop. He shoves past me, climbing into the car and slamming is door shut.  
Cat notices how tense he is and slides wordlessly back into the car, leaving me to walk round to the other side.  
He barrels off the minute I close the door, weaving through the streets haphazardly.  
"Dad, maybe you should slow down." I tell him as he takes a corner too sharply, nearly toppling the car.  
"I just need to find Trina. That's all. I couldn't keep your mother safe. I have to keep her safe. Keep you both safe." He mumbles, not slowing down.  
"Dad…" He snaps his head up to look at me, seemingly confused by my protesting.  
"Do you not want to find your sister?" He sounds angry.  
"Yeah, but it'd be a lot easier to find her if we didn't die in a car crash." He looks frustrated but slows down anyway, and I hear Cat sigh in relief in the back of the car.  
"Just gotta make it to the stadium." He mutters.  
"But what if they're not there?"  
"They'll be there."  
I lock eyes with Cat through the mirror and she gives me a half-hearted smile, obviously as concerned about my dad's behaviour as I am. I return it before closing my eyes and heaving in a deep breath. I hope to god they're at the stadium.

* * *

We drive for another 2 hours, Dad muttering under his breath while he weaves through the back streets of downtown LA, trying to avoid any more of the infected.  
It's still quiet as we reach the stadium, and the roads are cordoned off, so we decide to park the car somewhere that's moderately safe, leaving the keys in the ignition in case something goes wrong, after my instance and we walk the rest of the way. It's not far, about 10 minutes on foot, but the quietness it setting me on edge, like something is waiting to jump out at us.  
"Do you not think it's too quiet?" I ask my dad as we begin the walk over to the stadium.  
"No, it just means that there aren't any infected in this area, the military must be keeping it safe." He sounds even more desperate than he did before, and as if to prove me right he begins walking faster.  
I let him walk in front, keeping pace with Cat who isn't as fast as him. She stays close to me, hand wrapped around my arm.  
"Something's not right." She whispers. "You're right."  
"Just… stay alert, okay? Keep your eyes open." I whisper back, not wanting my dad to hear us.  
"Why would I close them?" She asks, and I just shake my head.

We get a few minutes closer to the stadium before the noise starts, and I can tell that something definitely isn't right.  
It isn't until we pass through the make-shift barriers that the army must've set off that we see what's happened though.

The stadium is completely overrun, infected everywhere, some even in military uniform. My heart sinks, and tears well in my eyes as I realise we've come to the right place but we were too late. Cat whimpers at my side, mind in the same place as mine.  
My dad's reaction is a whole different thing though.  
He freezing is shock, eyes widening as they take in what's happened. Then he explodes.  
"FUCK!" He practically screams, hands on his head. "GOD DAMN IT!"  
"Dad, they'll hear you." I whisper, trying to get him to calm down.  
"They can't be gone!" He yells again, kicking out and sending a traffic cone skittering away. Some of the mob freeze, listening.  
"Dad, I think we should leave. It's not safe."  
"Where are we supposed to go!" He kicks out again, hitting a car and shattering the window with his boot.  
An infected shuffling past turns to look at us, then snarls.  
"Dad come on, we need to run, now!" I tell him, pulling at his arm. His hand shoots to his waist, feeling for his gun. It isn't there.  
"I must've left my gun in the car." The realisation of what's about to happen crosses his face. "Shit. Girls, run. Now, come on, back to the car."  
We take off running, back through the barrier and toward the car. We're faster than the infected, which is definitely a good thing, and Cat surprises me by being faster than myself and my father, heading up a little group.

We're almost back at the car when another infected bursts from behind a door and tackles my dad. He yells in surprise, back slamming against another building.  
I fumble with my holster, struggling to pull out my gun, but by the time I've managed to get it free and aim, the infected has bitten my father, pulling a huge chunk of flesh away from his neck.  
I scream in anger then fire, nailing the infected in the head and watching them drop to the floor.  
My dad sags a little before standing up and looking in the direction of the approaching mob.  
"Get out of here Tori." He tells me, pressing a hand to the wound on his neck.  
"No, Dad, come on, we can still make it, we can get out of here, we have to run." I choke out, even though I know it's useless.  
"You know this is it for me Tori." He approaches me quickly, kissing me on the forehead before turning away. "I'm so proud of you, and your sister. I'm… I'm sorry. This is my fault. I'll hold them off. Now go. I love you sweetie. I love you so much."  
"No, I can't. Please don't do this."  
"GO!" He yells, his voice thick.  
"Dad…" I mutter brokenly, knowing I'll have to leave him behind. "I love you."

* * *

We make it back to the car with barely seconds to spare, and I turn the key in the ignition, starting the engine and peeling out of the alleyway we've parked in.  
We drive for about 10 minutes before I'm convinced we've escaped the worst of it, and I pull over, resting my head against the steering wheel.  
"Tori?" Cat tries, but I just shake my head. I can't even help the sob that rips from my lips, and gasp helplessly, body shaking.  
Cat doesn't try to do anything, just rubs my back softly and keeps a watch out for any more infected.  
For the first time, I feel like we're going to die.

* * *

**A/N:** Hey you, yeah, you, reading this now.  
I've got a boner for you. Thank you for doing what you do. If you wanted to review, I would buy a second boner to give to you.  
I am bad at being a girl.

Also, next chapters gonna have a time jump, or else it'd be like 4 chapters of Cat and Tori driving around LA trying to figure out what to do.

I love you xoxo


	3. Three

I let the car roll to a stop on the outskirts of the town, eyes flickering down to check the fuel. Nearly empty.

"Do we have any spare canisters of fuel left?" I ask Cat, turning to watch her peer over the town through her binoculars.  
Palmdale, a little town about an hour from central LA. I'm not sure how we ended up back in California after spending so long roaming the country. We both know how dangerous it is, so close to a big city, but at the same time, it's home. The only home either of us has ever known.  
"Two. We'll have to get some more." She lowers her hands and sighs. "Looks pretty empty in there, but we won't know for sure until we get in."  
"Alright." I clap my hands together. "Same as usual, get in, find the buildings we need and get out, no point in hanging around."  
Cat nods and I start the car again, heading towards the town.

* * *

It's been seven years. Seven years of… this. Of Surviving.  
It's not been easy. I know I've changed, become harder, less emotional. The time's taken its toll on me. And Cat. When I look at her now, I barely see the innocent girl I met at Hollywood Arts. Occasionally she'll say something, and the old Cat will slip through, but she's not the same. She doesn't smile often now.  
I can't help but feel responsible. In the early days, when Cat was still, well, Cat, and we started travelling, she was happier, and I scolded her for it. Always telling her to be quieter, be more serious, I was trying to keep us safe.  
I guess she is now, but I still miss her. How she was. I miss how I was, when all of this was so much easier. I miss being happy.  
I think Cat does too, underneath it all. Sometimes when we've found somewhere safe to sleep, and it's late and we're lying in bed, talking, she'll laugh, that airy ridiculous laugh, remembering something from her time at Hollywood Arts, and she'll sound happy.  
Sometimes she cries. Not as much as she did in the early days, and only when she thinks I'm sleeping. I know she's thinking about her parents and her brother, her uncles in San Francisco, her friends from Hollywood Arts.  
I don't say anything, just shuffle closer next to her. Sometimes she slides her hand into mine and curls up into my side. Sometimes she rolls away.  
Like I said, we're not who we were.

* * *

I pull up outside the first building we've decided to check out. A garage further towards the edge of town.  
"You wanna get the gas and I'll check inside?" Cat nods in agreement and slides gracefully out of the car.  
I jump down from my side, swinging my back onto my shoulders and pulling my pistol from its holster, heading towards the building. It's my dad's old gun. It felt right to take this one, give my old one to Cat. I know it sounds stupid but I feel close to him, keeping it near.  
The door to the garage isn't locked and swings open with a dull ringing. The door still has it bell, and smile at the normalcy of it despite the fact the noise might attract something.  
Shelves are almost empty, save couple of cans unlabelled food. I pick it up and shove it into my bag before checking the rest of the shop.  
A newspaper with a headline about the tourists that started this thing lies strewn across the floor, along with a few candy wrappers and cigarette butts. Signs that someone was here after the infection spread.  
Underneath some of the wrappers, a familiar, full looking packaging pokes out.  
My suspicions are confirmed when I bend down to pick it up. An unopened, and in date, packet of Bibble. I smile, shoving it into my pocket before standing up and surveying the rest of the room.

I round to the back of the till and look through the shelves and drawers, letting out a happy sigh when I find half a packet of cigarettes.  
When we first started travelling, most shops were still full, especially near the city, where people had either left in a panic of died trying, so I could pretty much take what I wanted. And I'd wanted a distraction, one that smoking provides.  
Cat scolds me, tells me it'll kill me. I tell her I'd rather die by the hand of cigarettes than get ripped apart by those things. It usually shuts her up, even if she does have a scowl on her face.  
Sometimes I bring up the fact that she takes Bibble from every shop that has it. She says it's not the same but an addiction is an addiction. Hers just smells nicer than mine.

I'm standing up from rooting through cupboards when I smell a very familiar smell. The smell of dead people. Which usually means one of two things. Either there's an infected close by, or someone's died here. Usually the first one.  
I click the safety off my pistol, heading towards the one place I haven't checked yet, the storeroom. I tiptoe forward quietly, taking note of the blood pooled at the foot of the door. Never a good sign. It's dry when I step onto it though, and I swing the door open, fully expecting to come face to face with a walker, but instead I find a corpse crumpled in the corner, bullet wound through the forehead.  
He's covered in bite marks, which explains why he shot himself. A lone pistol lies on the floor next to his outstretched hand, so I bend down to pick it up, trying to avoid the crusted blood.  
I'm about to leave when I notice he's got something clutched in his other hand. I pry it from his fingers, wincing when the movement to his body sends out a new wave of smell.  
It's a little note book. There's hardly any blood on it, and it looks like it's full of writing. Maybe it was his diary. Or maybe it's full of locations and food stores. I take it and shove it into my jacket pocket next to the found Bibble, before leaving the room, pulling the door closed behind me.

* * *

I'm fishing for my lighter by the time I step back outside, and Cat looks up from putting the last of the fuel back into the car and shakes her head at me.  
"That's bad for you." She tells me, still shaking her head.  
"So is all that Bibble." I take the packet out of my pocket and throw it to her. She squeaks in delight. It's been a few weeks since we saw any, and she never brings it up but I know that stuff is like crap to her.  
I lean up against the car and pull the little notebook from my pocket.  
"What's that?" Cat asks with her mouth full, spitting little bits of Bibble onto me.  
"Gross." I wipe the residue off my face. Cat laughs. "I found it in there, some dead guy was holding it like it was important. Maybe it's useful."  
I flick through the first pages and there's not much there, a list of places that are empty, places that are overrun. Things I knew, mostly.  
The next couple of pages are interesting though. He starts talking about a group of survivors he's heard of.  
A group back towards LA. He says they're dangerous, that they kill people to take supplies. Gives a location of their base and places they frequent.  
It also says he's never actually seen them kill people, but there always seems to be more deaths when they're around. Maybe he's right. Maybe he's crazy.

"There's a lot written here about a group of people that kill people…" I tell Cat, eyes wandering over the page. "But he also sounds insane, so he might just be crazy."  
Cat nods, shoving another handful of bibble into her mouth before she folds up the packet and puts it into her pocket.  
"There are a few walkers heading down the road, about a mile down." She tells me. Sure enough, when I grab the binoculars from the car and look down the road, a group of three or four are shambling towards the town.  
"It's so creepy how you always know."  
"It's a gift." She climbs into the car, nodding her head towards the driver's seat. "Don't wanna stay here all day, runners might show up."

* * *

We've never really heard an official report for what the infected actually are, but we've out on the road long enough to be able to split them into categories. Walkers are the usual infected you bump into. Infected for long enough to still be able to move around, but they can't run anymore. Runners are what people become a few hours after they're turned. Their bodies get used to the changes, adapt, and they're practically people in their mobility, it's just their higher brain function's gone.  
If they're infected and stay alive for long enough, they eventually become crawlers. They lose so much strength and muscle mass that they can barely drag themselves around. They don't cause a lot of problems and die not long after.  
Occasionally, instead of becoming a crawler, the infected will adapt again, changing, and become a feral. An almost dog-like adaption to the infection, ferals are dangerous. And rare. We've only ever encountered one once, and it nearly killed me before Cat blew its head off with a shotgun. I got a cool scar though, right through my eyebrow and down across my cheek. Wasn't cool at first, when I couldn't see and Cat had to look after both of us, but now it makes me look kinda bad-ass.  
Cat's only got one scar. And she didn't even get it from a fight. A couple of weeks after we lost my dad, we were still hiding out in the cabin up in the forest and Cat ran into a door frame and broke her nose.  
It was the kind of moment that I wished TheSlap was still around so I could tell people. And that people were still around. And the internet.  
I know that sounds stupid, but I'd probably give my legs to be able to sit around and watch stupid videos of cats and not have to worry about getting killed constantly.

* * *

We head further into the town, stopping outside an old apartment block. It's weird that it's not even been ten years but without maintenance half of these buildings look like they're crumble down if you touched them. A wall from the building next to the apartment block is a pile of rubble now, and you can see the rotten wood of the flooring through the gap in the side.  
Across from the apartment block is the building we're here for. A huge old department store that looks almost full from the outside. I don't doubt for a minute that we'll be disappointed when we head inside, but there's still a little spark of hope that we'll find some of the stuff we actually need, like water. We're down to our last case and the water in the lakes and rivers is so toxic now it'd probably kill you after a sip.

There's always the same plan whenever he head into a bigger shop. Stay together, stay quiet and be fast. Back in the earlier days, just after we'd started travelling and crossed into Arizona, we were in a Walmart when Cat got lost and nearly got eaten, so we decided it's just safer to stick together and avoid that again.

We leave the car and walk over to the door, pushing it slightly to test if it's open. It is. A lot of the towns and cities around LA got evacuated when this first happened, so we've been pretty lucky in finding stuff we can actually use.  
I push the door open again and I'm greeted with the smell of rotten food. I pull a face and then pull up the bandana I keep around my neck for stuff like this. Cat does the same with hers and we head into the shop.  
We unholster our guns at practically the same time, and head straight towards the aisle were they keep the water. We're in luck as well, the shelves are practically full.  
"Take some back to the car now and some when we're finished?" I ask Cat, reaching down to haul up two cases of water.  
She mirrors me. "Yeah." She tells me, huffling slightly. "Might as well get as much as possible."

* * *

We do two trips to the car before we look through the rest of the shop. There's still a lot of canned food, and dried food, and even a few packets of Bibble that Cat thinks I don't see her shove into her pack. I'm over by the nearly full cigarette counter, trying to cram as many packets into the space I have left as possible when I hear something I haven't heard in over two years.  
"Did you hear that?" I ask Cat, eyes wide.  
"Hear what? I was eating… not bibble." She tells me, trying to conceal the packet within her pocket.  
"Shh, come here." I grab her arm. The second time the noise happens, it's unmistakable.  
"Is that a car?" Sure enough, a third slam of a car door is accompanied by murmuring from outside the shop.

"Get down!" I tell her, crouching behind the counter as I hear the door to the shop open. We're practically at the back of the shop, so I can't hear what they're saying, but it's a group of them.  
"We should say hello." Cat tells me, starting to stand up.  
"NO!" I whisper shout. "What if it's that group of crazy murders the book was talking about!"  
"Oh yeah." She thinks about it for a minute. "We should not say hello to them."  
"We just need to find a way to get past them and out of the shop."  
"What about the extra water?" Cat's eyes are wide. We haven't encountered any other survivors for over a year, and hostile ones in even longer. The worst the world got, the more the people left stuck together, helped each other out.  
"We've got enough for now. We can always come back later." I look up over the counter and see movement towards the edge of the shop. They look like they're heading towards the aisle with the water in. Must've had the same idea we did.  
"Alright." I adjust my bandana and use it to wipe a bit of sweat from my face. I'd never tell Cat, but I'm terrified they'll catch us. "We move quietly. Head straight towards the door, don't stop for anything." She tries to interrupt me. "Not even for Bibble." She frowns, but when I hold out my hand, she takes it, gripping it tightly and leaving half-moon indentations in my skin.

* * *

We creep along a few aisles until we have to stop the first time, letting a guy with a ponytail wander past us. Cat squeaks a little but he doesn't notice, just carries on moving.  
We're nearly at the front of the shop when everything goes terribly wrong. Cat stumbles over a can, sending it skidding into a shelf and causing the entire thing to rattle.  
"What was that?" One of the voices asks, another guy.  
"I'll check it out, wait here." A female replies. Shit.  
My eyes flicker around the area, trying to find somewhere to hide. Seeing a gap behind some shelves, I quickly shove Cat into the gap before trying to find somewhere for me to hide while listening for footsteps.  
Evidently I didn't listen hard enough, because I'm trying to squeeze my bag behind some fridges when someone grabs my collar, pulling me back before sending me flying into some shelves. I hit the ground hard, rolling and trying to crawl away.  
"It's just another crawler, I'll take care of it." She yells back to her group before grabbing onto my ankle and pulling me back towards her. Something about her voice sounds familiar, but I can't put my finger on it.  
She flips me over, standing over me. She's wearing a bandana, not unsimilar to mine, and her brown hair is loose around her shoulders. I can just make out the shape of her eyes in the dull light of the shop. She stands on my stomach, pulling at the baseball bat attached to her belt. There's a couple of long, rusted screws pointing through the top, and I automatically flinch, pulling up my hands to protect my face.  
"You're flinching? Crawlers don't flinch." She sounds confused. "Are you alive?" She asks, poking at me with the unpointy side of the bat.  
I'm frozen with shock, unable to speak.  
"I said, are you alive?" She prods me again, harder.  
"I… Uh… What?" Are the only words I can get out, and I blush under my bandana. What? Who even says what when they're being attacked.  
"Guys! Got a live one!" She yells towards her friends who come scurrying towards us.  
There are two guys with her, the tall guy with the pony tail from before, and another guy who's wearing a ski-mask. Part of me muses that they must do things like this often if they're that prepared to deal with the smell and disease that's floating around in the air.  
Reaching down, she pulls me up by the collar and holds me against the shelves I slammed into a minute again.  
"Who are you?" She yells in my face, shaking me slightly.  
"What are you doing?" Someone asks from behind her. Ponytail guy.  
"She was hiding in here. Probably spying on us." She's still holding onto my collar and thrusts me into the shelves. "Who are you?!" She's louder this time, and I shake.  
"Jade, stop it, you're scaring the poor girl." Jade? Something in the back of my head stirs, a forgotten memory I can't quite place.  
She reaches forward and pulls down the bandana round my face.  
"Tori?" Someone behind her asks, and I look, trying to focus on them but their face is covered too.  
"Tori?" The girl repeats. "Of all the people who had to survive it was you." She sighs, pulling down her bandana and I realise why I knew her voice.  
She's not just Jade. She's the Jade.  
Jade West.

* * *

**A/N: **Hello snowflakes. I know it seems like these chapters are getting shorter, and that's because they are. It'd take me forever to update them if they were all 9000 words. However I'm gonna try and keep an average of 4000 for now.  
I hope you are all enjoying this so far, and if you are, I would love love love if you would leave a review for me.  
Next chapter will be up asap, and then there will be interaction of the Jori kind, as well as all kinds of other interaction.  
are you excited for Cat and Jade to be reunited? Because I am.

love you bye


	4. Four

Before anyone has a chance to say anything, a blur flies across the room and collides with Jade.  
"What is…" Jade trails off, looking down at Cat who has clamped herself around Jade's waist. "Cat?"  
Cat sniffles, and I expect Jade to tell her to get off, or push her away, but she tightens her arms around Cat, pulling her even closer. "I can't believe you're alive." She looks up and locks eyes with the boy with the ponytail, who's pulling off his own bandana. Beck.  
When the third member of the party reveals himself to be Andre, I nearly burst, throwing myself forward and hugging him.  
"We thought you were all dead." I mumble into his shoulder.  
"Nah, you can't get rid of us that easily. Where've you been girl?" He holds me at arm's length, looking at me like he can't believe it's me. "And why are you here?"  
"Everywhere." I laugh, swiping at my eyes. "We came back to California a month ago, got fed up of roaming around. We were looking for water."  
"It's good to see you, girl."

* * *

"You're coming back with us." Jade tells me when she finally lets go of Cat. When I open my mouth to speak she stops me. "No argument. Cat can ride with me. Andre will ride with you and give you directions."

She turns and leaves the supermarket, Cat and Beck trailing after her.  
Andre smiles apologetically at me. "Come on, we better get back before everyone starts to worry." He turns and heads towards my car, Dad's old SUV. We've made some modifications to it, adding armour and barbed wire to keep away the infected. I've even kept up work on the engine.  
We found books on car maintenance in an old garage when the SUV first started to splutter and we were trying to fix it. I got pretty good at mechanics, and it kept us moving. Cat got good at handing me tools and pretending to sound interested in what I was saying.  
Andre whistles lowly when he sees the car. "This car is sick girl, you do all this?"  
I nod as I round the car to the driver's seat. "I'd say Cat helped me, except she didn't. She tried to fill the car up with pepsi once. It's a good job I caught her or we would've been walking through Seattle." I laugh climbing into the car.  
Andre chuckles as well as he makes himself comfortable. "Sounds just like Cat. How long have you been back in California?"  
"Not long. We ran out of places to go." I start up the car, watching Jade pull away from the curb and following her. "We figured we'd just hide out in a small town until we decided what to do next." I watch as Jade makes a turn, easing my own car around the corner after her. "What happened with you guys? How did you get out?"  
Andre sighs, leaning back into his seat. "It's kind of a long story."  
"How longs this drive?" I ask.  
"Long enough, I guess. Alright." He shifts around again, obviously trying to make himself comfortable. "I guess it starts back at that day at Hollywood Arts. You know, the coffee day?" He chuckles and I roll my eyes. "When I got back to the classroom, there was some guy there I'd never seen before. Some military guy, guns and everything, standing next to Sikowitz on his little stage, serious expression, you know, very official and important looking. Sikowitz, he tells us that there's some drill, that we've gotta evacuate the school, that there's buses outside to take us somewhere safe. No one would tell us what was going on."  
"We do as we're told, obviously, grabbing our stuff and following the army guy out the classroom, down the hall. We see all the other classes filing out as well, and any hope that this is one of Sikowitz's acting exercises dies.  
We get outside and they line us all up to get put into buses. Won't tell us what's going on, still.  
Then we notice Little Red's missing. We try going back into the school to look for her, but the soldiers block our paths, won't let us back. Jade gets angry, starts waving her scissors round, shouting that they better let her back in. They look like they're gonna start relenting until there's this loud noise from inside the school."  
"We didn't realise at first, not until the soldiers' radio crackles and tells him that the infection is inside the school, that it was gunshots.  
The practically shoved us on the bus, and Jade was screaming the entire time, still trying to get back into the school. A soldier had to hold her in her seat while they drove off. When she finally calmed down, she wouldn't speak to anyone, not even Beck. She didn't speak for the rest of the day. Not when we pulled up at the stadium they were keeping us, not when anyone asked if she was okay. She didn't even speak to refuse food, just stared at it blankly until it went cold.  
We all thought Cat was dead, and it was a hard thought to deal with. But Jade and Cat had known each other as long as they can remember. Cat was practically family to Jade, and she was gone."  
"She didn't speak at all until late that night. We were trying to sleep when the first gunshots broke through. They sounded far enough away that we thought we didn't have to worry at first. Jade shot straight up though, looked around frantically. "We need to leave." She told us, kicking at us to get us to get up. By the time we started taking her seriously, the soldiers that were dotted around had all left, gone out to the front to fight."  
"Jade just knew we had to get out, screamed at us all until we were squeezing though one of the back gates and into a car someone had left the keys in.  
I don't know if it was all those zombie movies she used to watch or if it was just instinct, but she saved us. We heard over the radio that the stadium had been overrun, that nearly no one got out alive. She even had the foresight to steal guns."

* * *

Andre laughs, pulling me out of the story. "If you'd have told me ten years ago that Jade West would save my life I would've laughed that you, told you that she'd probably be the one to end it, but here we are."  
"What happened after that, where did you go?" I question further, wanting to know how they survived.  
"We did the same as you, I guess, drove around the country. Met up with a few other survivors, started up a convoy, tried to find supplies and what not. Came back when we realised there'd probably be more supplies left in Cali than anywhere else. Found an old house with high walls and a lot of room and set up home. We've been broadcasting our location ever since, trying to find more survivors." He looks around the car. "I guess you don't have a radio though. We've been out here for about a year now, and it's safe enough. Most of the infected tend to stick to the cities, so we only ever deal with one or two at a time."  
"Sounds too good to be true." We're on a country lane now, bobbling about. The old car in front of us looks like it's going to wobble to pieces. "You guys need to fix that car man."  
"Well, Miss Mechanic, I guess it's a good job we found you." He laughs as I watch Jade turn off down an unmarked track. We drive for a few minutes before an old manor house comes into view. Andre rubs his hands together. "Home sweet home."

* * *

Someone opens the gate for us, and we drive, parking carefully. The house is beautiful, and huge, and I can't help but admire it as I slid out of the car and approach Cat, who's standing with the other group.  
"They have real beds, Tori." Cat tells me with wide eyes, looking amazed. "And running water! And you'll never guess what…" She's interrupted by someone storming out of the house behind us, shouting loudly.  
"Where have you guys been!? We were worried about you, you didn't radio and you've been gone so long that we were about to send out a search party!"  
I bring my hand to my face, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Trina, can you not…" My eyes widen in realisation. "Trina?" I spin around and see my sister standing at the bottom of the stairs to the house, frozen.  
"Tori?" She questions, eyes pooling with tears. She looks older now, and more mature. No ridiculous boots and too much make up. "Is that you?" She takes a step forward, then stops, hand stretched out in front of her like she's reaching for me.  
I move towards her, wrapping her up in a hug and feel her let of a shaky breath against my shoulder. "It's me, I'm here." I mumble into her shoulder.  
"I thought you were dead" She cries, tightening her hold on me. My own tears fall as I tighten my grip, holding my sister as though she would disappear if I let go.  
We stay like that for a few minutes before someone clears their throat behind us.  
"As touching as this reunion is, we better give the newbies the tour before they do something that gets us killed." Jade smirks.  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Cat frowns from behind her.  
Andre wraps an arm around her shoulder, "Nothing, Little Red, come on."  
"I don't even have red hair anymore." Cat sighs.  
"Yeah, that's true," Andre tells her, "But you'll still always be my Little Red."  
Cat blushes slightly, before hugging him and turning to Jade. "Come on then, show us around!"  
Jade stalks off into the house and the group follows behind her, leaving me and Trina standing at the door. She takes my hand. "Come on, Jade will probably throw us out as a snack if we don't catch up."  
She takes off into the house, still holding onto my hand.

* * *

We spend a good hour listening to Jade tell us what we can and can't do. Half of this stuff is common sense, and she's looking at me like I'm an idiot even though I've managed to keep myself and Cat alive for seven years. Even when the worlds on its knees, some things never change.  
After she's done practically berating me, I head out to our car with Cat and Trina to bring in what supplies we managed to get from the supermarket.  
I'm pulling the last crate of water out from the car when Trina appears behind me.  
"What happened to Mom and Dad?" She asks me, arms crossed. "And don't lie to me, I know that's Dad's car. And Dad's gun," She points to my holster. "What happened?"  
"I… Me and Dad, we went to find you. We didn't know if the school had been evacuated, and Mom was safe at Grandma's, so we headed down. You weren't there, but we found Cat." I thrust a thumb at where's she's sat talking to Robbie, the guy with the puppet. Without the puppet now, I guess, because I haven't seen it. "When we finally got to Grandma's, it was like hell, and Mom was… She was one of those things… I had to… I didn't want to but she was going to kill me, and I…" I start mumbling, but Trina cuts me off.  
"It's okay, I get it. I don't blame you." She rubs my arm comfortingly but I can still see the tears in her eyes. "What about Dad?"  
"After I… After Mom, he became obsessed with finding you. He wouldn't listen to us, listen to reason. We thought you'd be at the stadium, we didn't know it'd been overrun, so we headed into town.  
When we saw what had happened, Dad just… flipped. He started yelling and screaming, kicking out. Attracted the attention of the Infected. By the time he realised what he'd done we tried to run but it was too late. He stayed behind to hold them off, so we could get away.  
I didn't want to leave him, but I knew it would destroy him if I died because of him. So we ran, got into his car and left." Trina's crying now, and for a minute I think she's going to yell at me, hit me for letting our father die.  
Instead she hugs me. "I'm so glad you're here. It wasn't your fault." I sag into her slightly, feeling seven years' worth of guilt lift from my conscience. Cat had told me a thousand times that it wasn't my fault. A huge part of me knew that it wasn't, but hearing my sister say it made me really feel it. If she could forgive me then maybe I could forgive myself.  
She lets me go and swipes at her eyes, laughing. "I haven't cried in so long and then you show up and I'm a mess."  
I raise an eyebrow. "You used to cry when you couldn't find the right shade of nail polish to match your shoes."  
She shoves me gently, laughing. "Not much call for nail polish anymore Tor."  
I laugh with her, picking up the last of the water and heading into the house, smiling brighter than I have done for seven years.

* * *

They give me and Cat a room together. Cat asked for it, told Jade that she didn't think she could sleep if I wasn't there. Jade scoffs, rolling her eyes, but puts us together anyway. I'd never admit it, but I don't think I'd be able to sleep without Cat nearby either.  
We eat our dinner outside, me, Cat and Trina, sat in the shade of an old tree in the yard. It's warmer here than anywhere we've been for at least a year and I shrug out of my shirt, leaving myself in a vest top and sigh contently.  
"It's been so long since I just… Sat down." I sigh again, and Cat makes murmurs of agreement. Trina asks us questions about our adventures, laughing at Cat's quest for Bibble and gasping when she hears of our near brush with a feral. She runs her finger along the scar under my eye and looks like she's going to cry again before a loud grinding noise interrupts us.  
"What is that?" Cat asks, hands flying up to cover her ears.  
Trina laughs "It's the gate. Its needs a new motor. The other scouting group must be home." Sure enough, a few seconds later a car drives into view, parking up next to our truck.  
"Tori can fix that, she's super good with mechanics these days. She's the only reason our car is even still running." Cat babbles to Trina but I'm only half listening, watching as a group of people climb out of the car.  
"Is that…" I trail off, unsure of how to word my question.  
"iCarly? Yeah, it is. We found them a few years back, when we were still travelling. Teamed up with them and they've been with us ever since."  
Cat squeaks in delight. "I used to love that show!" She wiggles slightly. "Random dancing!" I laugh, watching her worm around on her spot under the tree. We've been here for a few hours and she's been more like the old Cat in that time than the past 2 years combined.  
The blonde girl, I think her name is Sam, is walking towards our spot under the tree. Trina leans over to me. "Don't mention Freddie, I'll explain later." She whispers cryptically. I nod in understanding.  
"Hey Trina, who're these two?" She asks, dropping down in front of us and taking Trina's can from her hand. Trina looks mildly annoyed but lets her do it anyway.  
She looks at me proudly, which makes me blush slightly. "This is my sister Tori, and our friend Cat."  
"Tori?" Sam's eyebrows shoot up, "You're actually alive?"  
"Sam, that's rude." I look up and see Carly standing behind her, looking amused at the bluntness of her friends. "And give Trina her food back, Spencer's gone to get us something from inside. Jade will kill you if she spots you eating more food than you should." Carly takes a seat next to her on the grass, lifting the can from Sam's hand and holding it out to Trina.  
"Momma's gotta eat girl! Besides I'd like to see Jade try to kill me."  
"No you wouldn't." Carly's brother Spencer throws a can at Sam, who catches it easily.  
Carly laughs. "Spencer's right, you're tiny. She'd pound you silly." Sam raises a suggestive eyebrow, causing Carly to splutter. "I just mean she'd hurt you, that's all." Sam laughs at Carly's obvious discomfort, and the rest of us join in. I've smiled so much today my face is starting to hurt, unused to the use of those muscles.

* * *

"Anyway!" Carly starts when she's regained her composure. "I'm Carly." She introduces herself even though we already know who she is. "This is Sam, and my brother Spencer. And… Where's Gibby?"  
"Inside, still trying to chat up Jade." Spencer laughs.  
"He's like a boy with a bone… r." Sam snickers.  
Gibby makes an appearance in the doorway a minute later, clutching a can of his own with a sheepish expression and a red face. He takes a seat next to Spencer silently.  
It takes about 40 seconds for Sam to start laughing, and Gibby blushes even more furiously.  
"So…" I interrupt, saving Gibby from more embarrassment. "Is there anyone else here we know?"  
"Lane, and Sikowitz. We bumped into them when we went back to look for Cat at the school. They'd had the same idea, to look for people there." Trina tips the can up to her mouth, draining the last of its contents. "That's it, I think. Sinjin's sister was with us for a while, but she… she didn't make it here. There was an incident with a scouting party." She sighs sadly before getting up. "It's my turn up on the watch tower." She bends down and hugs me tightly. "I'm really glad you're here."

It's soon nightfall, and we're told we'll be assigned duties tomorrow, and to get some rest tonight. I'll admit, it's nice sleeping in a bed, not having to worry about the door busting open and getting ripped to shreds.  
Still, I can't sleep. Cat went out like a light as soon as her head hit the pillow, not that she's ever had a problem sleeping. I spend an hour tossing and turning before I decide to get up.  
The house is silent as I creep downstairs, a few room illuminated by candlelight, shining out from underneath the doorways.  
I grab a bottle of water from the kitchen and head outside, sitting down under the tree. I can vaguely make out the shape of Beck sitting on top of the watch tower but I'm not really in the mood to talk so I slump against the tree, uncapping the water.  
When I asked Andre about them collecting bottled water earlier, even though they have running water here, he explained that they just stock up in case the water stops. Jade's idea, apparently.  
Jade's definitely… She's different. Even if she still seems the same outwardly. The way people talk about her now, even if I've avoided her, still hung up on what happened all those years ago, they talk like she's the best thing that's happened to them.  
She might be, for all I know. I sigh and pluck at a few strands of grass, feeling out of place. They're such a family here, even including Jade. And they love Cat. I'm just an outsider.  
I see the way they watch me, even Robbie and Beck. Like they can't trust me. Part of me feels wounded even though I know that if any of them had come to me and Cat alone, I'd be the same. I know Trina's here, but she belongs. I don't.

* * *

I'm pulled out of my self-pity by someone coming out of the house.  
"You should probably be in bed, you know." Jade tells me, dropping down beside me.  
"So should you." I don't even know why she's talking to me.  
"I was going up, but then you were ruining the grass, and I like the grass, so I thought I better stop you before the garden is bald." She nods to the growing clump of grass by my knee and I blush, ducking my head.  
"Sorry. Just got lost in my thoughts, I guess."  
Jade sighs. "I know you don't like me, you probably hate me, actually. I can't say that I'm all that fond of you, in all honesty. Even though me and Beck are ancient history now… It's probably just left over from when we were kids. But we're not kids anymore, and I want you to trust us. I trust you."  
That knocks me back slightly. "Why?" I splutter out before I can stop myself.  
"You kept Cat safe. She told me that you'd saved her life more than once, that you'd nearly died doing it. And Cat's… Well, she's Cat. And she's here, safe… Because of you, which makes you trustworthy in my eyes. I know the guys are a bit anxious around you, but it's because you're new. Unknown. They'll warm up."  
We fall into silence, watching the stars. The sky is clearer out here than anywhere I've been in years, and it really feels like paradise. A sigh contently, and Jade smiles slightly next to me.  
"Jade?" I question.  
"Yeah?"  
"I don't hate you."  
She smiles again and looks back up at the stars.

We're quiet for a while before she speaks up again.  
"How'd you get that scar?" She motions to the biggest one on my face. "Cat said you got it protecting her, but she never said how."  
"It's kind of a long story, don't you need to sleep?" I grin a little when she frowns.  
"I suppose, yeah…" She thinks for a second before she grins herself. "I need to head out tomorrow, collect firewood. You can come with me, and tell me the fantastic tale." She stands up and dusts herself off before she reaches down, holding her hand out to pull me up.  
I take it and dust myself off before I look at her, slight confusion on my face.  
"Why're you being so nice to me?" I question.  
"Look around. It's the end of the fucking world. There's no time for petty high school drama. I know I still have some… not too great feelings about you, but I'm not gonna let that get in the way of having an obviously capable new member of this little pseudo-family we've set up." She smiles softly. "Now come on, if you don't get any sleep, you'll feel like shit when I get you up to come and kill trees with me."  
I raise my eyebrow at her last remark and she chuckles lightly, turning and heading into the house. I shake my head, laughing myself, and follow her into the house.  
Jade West is full of surprises these days.

* * *

**I'm back, baby!  
Ants got into our wall and broke the internet. I know, I don't even understand but it's fixed and I have many chapters for you guys. I'm gonna stagger out uploading them while I write more, so I'll probably upload a new one on tuesday. As long as the ants don't come back.  
Anyway, reviews are awesome, YOU are awesome for reading it, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!  
There are big changes a-comin!**


	5. Five

"Get up." A voice commands next to my bed. I grumble and roll away from the sound. "Tori…" I let out a louder grumble, burrowing down into the bed. "Fine, have it your way."  
Footsteps sound like they're retreating from the room, and I sigh in relief at getting a little longer in bed.  
My relief is premature, and when my mattress is tipped up from my bed, sending my sprawling across the room, I groan in anger. "Why?!"  
"Because I told you, we're going to get wood. Now get dressed, you've got five minutes." Jade stalks from my room, closing the door quietly behind her.  
I get up, frowning, Cat's nowhere to be seen, probably already awake and off doing something productive. I stretch, letting my bones pop and crack, and let out a satisfied sigh. Despite my reluctance to get out of bed, I actually slept better than I have done in as long as I can remember.

* * *

I dress quickly, heading downstairs to see Cat and Jade sat at the kitchen table. Jade's expression remains as cool as ever, but Cat beams at me.  
"Hey Tori! I opened you a tin of…" She picks up and sniffs it. "food."  
I laugh at her expression and take a seat at the table, next to her an opposite Jade.  
"We've got a list of things to do!" She tells me again, thrusting a piece of paper under my nose. "I get to clean bits of the house, and help Andre organise scouting, and then sometimes go on the scouting runs, and I get to…" She drones on and I tune her out while I read my part of the list.  
_Get wood with Jade _is first on the list, and most of it is the same as Cat's, except I've been put onto a team of 'runners'.  
"What're runners?" I ask, lifting the piece of paper.  
"They go out on scouting runs, check out new locations, look for survivors. You know, cool stuff." Jade explains, running a spoon around the edge of her own can.  
The last thing on the list is a list of times I'm manning the watch tower, which is fair enough. My first shift is this afternoon.  
"There's a rota for when people man the tower on the wall as well." Jade points to a chart over my head, "Robbie made it. He hates when things are unorganised."  
I finish the rest of my can in silence, only speaking to say bye to Cat when she runs off to start her duties. She seems to get happier by the hour, now that we're here.

* * *

"Alright!" Jade drops an axe down onto the table in front of me. "Time to chop wood!"  
I pick up the axe, testing its weight in my hands as she continues.  
"Few rules. We don't shoot near the house. The noise attracts an unwanted element. So we get more use out of the axes than just chopping wood. There's not usually anything up here, but every now and again one or two find their way through the trees. Second rule is you watch were you swing. Hit me and I'll kill you." She smirks at me. "That's about it, everything else is just common sense."  
We head out towards the front of the house and Trina opens the gate from up in the watch tower. It groans against the strain and I make a mental note to check the motor on it when we get back.

We head north east from the house, towards where the trees are thickest.  
"So Tori," Jade starts from besides me, picking her way through the undergrowth and tugging a cart for the wood behind her. "I believe you have a story to tell me."  
"I guess I do," I smile at her. "We were in Utah, down near Cedar City, must've been nearly 3 years ago now. We'd never brushed as close to a city before, didn't know what to expect.  
The entire time we were there, something felt off. It was quiet, but not the safe kind. Like something was watching us, waiting for the right moment to strike."  
"We were clearing out a little supermarket, putting the last of what we'd found into the car when we heard this weird noise. Didn't know what it was, obviously, I'd never heard it before. It sounded kind of like a dog whining.  
I drew my gun straight away, but Cat being Cat thought that something needed our help. I tried to get her to come back but she went further into the shop. It was unlike her, actually, she never did things like that, not anymore. I guess she thought it was a puppy or something. "  
Jade ducks down under the branch of a tree, holding it up to let me pass under. "We're halfway into this shop when this… thing, just jumps out behind us, looks like a person but more animal like. Completely shits me up, and when I raise my gun to shoot it, it jumps at me, knocking me back and sending my gun across the room."  
"Feral?" Jade asks, interrupting me.  
"Yeah, but it was bigger than any I'd seen before. And super strong. Nearly knocked me out in one blow. When I get my senses back, I can hear Cat backing across the room, and the Feral is stalking her like it's a lion and she's its prey. I scramble around for my gun, fire off nearly a full clip into the back of this thing. It doesn't even flinch, but I guess I annoyed it enough that it turns, comes after me instead of Cat.  
I nod my head towards the door, and she heads toward it carefully, and I try and back up towards it myself. I don't even know what I was thinking, maybe if I got to the door I could get back to the car and drive off? I knew I couldn't out run it."  
"It sees Cat though, tries to make a dive for her, but I just jump in the way, and it grabs me instead. Thought I was dead for sure, so I shout to Cat to run, get in the car and drive away so at least one of us is safe.  
Last thing I remember is it slamming my face into the ground," I point to the scar cutting across my eye, "And I remember a really loud bang, which must've been Cat with the shotgun, and then I woke up in the back of the car with the worst headache I've ever had."

When I finish telling the story I realise Jade has stopped walking. I look back and she's just staring at me, expression unreadable.  
"You would've died for her?" She asks me, voice empty.  
"I mean, yeah." I rub at the back of my neck. "I wouldn't have let her die, I don't know what I would've done if I'd been left alone."  
Jade moves forward, wrapping her arms around my waist and leaving me shocked.  
"Thank you." She breathes into my shoulder.  
I bring my own arms up hesitantly, wrapping them around her softly. "It's okay."

* * *

We stay like that for a few seconds before she lets go of me, stepping back and clearing her throat.  
"We better carry on, you know, chop up some trees." She sounds embarrassed.  
"Yeah, sure." I just agree with her, following after her when she takes off the clearing.  
She wanders on for another few minutes before she finds a tree she deems suitable. "This one looks about right, so let's get to it."  
She swings at the tree a few times, knocking it down in about 4 chops.  
"You just gonna stand there Vega or are you gonna help me?" She taunts, back to the usual Jade.  
"You really care about Cat, don't you?" I ask instead, ignoring her question.  
She sighs and turns, sitting down on the trunk of the tree. "I never really had a family. My mom died when I was nearly 5, and my dad just didn't care.  
And I was weird, so the other kids didn't wanna play with me. Not until Cat showed up half way through the school year, when I was nearly 9. Even then, I thought I didn't need friends, but then there was Cat, all bubbly and light and my complete opposite. And she cared about me, and I couldn't get rid of her, as much as I tried." She chuckles lightly. "We just, we clicked, when I finally let her in. And ever since, she's been my family." She stops talking, looks down at her boots. "When I thought she was dead, my whole world fell apart." Something drips down onto her boot, shining against the dull black. It takes a few more droplets for me to realise she's crying. "I'll never be able to repay you, for saving her. You gave my back my family."  
I don't know what to do, so I reach out, let my hand rest on her knee. "Andre told me, about how you kept them all safe. You kept Trina safe. I saw my parents die, and I thought I'd never see my sister again, but she's here, alive and not infected and that's because of you. You don't need to repay me."  
She threads her fingers though mine, hands surprisingly soft, and lifts up her head, smiling slightly. "You ever tell anyone about this," She motions to her face and then to our hands. "I'll chop you up and feed you to the biggest Feral I can find."  
I laugh, letting go of her hand and standing up. "Yes Boss." I look down at the tree. "Better get this back before Cat thinks you've killed me and left me in the forest."  
She laughs as well, standing up and picking up her axe again. I flex the hand she held a minute ago, trying not to think about how the lack of her warmth bothers me a little.

* * *

"Jade?" We've all but finished chopping up the tree, just one big chunk left that Jade is working her way through. She's stopped to take a drink of water when I call to her.  
"Yeah?" She replies, walking toward me and handing me the bottle.  
"Thanks." I take a few gulps before I continue. "Yesterday when I met Sam and Carly, Trina told me not to mention Freddie, but she didn't tell me why."  
"Ah." She takes the bottle back from my hands, screws on the cap. "On the day we found them, they were in a bit of trouble. And when I say bit, I mean a lot. They were being chased by this huge horde, their car had broken down and they were about a minute away from being dinner. We were driving by, saw them and stopped to help. Beck tried to get us to leave them, but I couldn't do it."  
"They spotted us, came running, but the horde were too close. So Freddie slows down a little, shouts something to his friends we can't hear, and gets a flare out of his bag, lights it and starts jumping around. It gets the hordes attention, and the rest of them make it to us. He didn't make it. Carly was really messed up about it. More so than the other three. She still can't talk about it. Sam just gets mad, won't even listen if someone's talking about him in a nice way.  
Spencer and Gibby talk about him sometimes, they always say he sacrificed himself for Carly, you know, to keep her safe," Jade shrugs, picking up her axe and throwing it into the cart. "Maybe that's why she can't talk about it, I don't know."  
Jade bends down, grabbing the carts handle and starts off in the other direction. "You staying there or are you coming back?" She shouts over her shoulder, looking back to grin at me.  
I roll my eyes but follow her anyway.

* * *

When we get back, there's a crowd around the gate.  
"What're you doing?" Jade asks, looking annoyed when the gate doesn't open to let us in.  
"Engines bust. Robbie broke it." Trina sighs from the other side of the gate. "You'll have to climb over."  
Jade sighs in annoyance but starts climbing over anyway, and I follow her up the gate. When I get to the top I realise how high the gate it, and how bad my balance is as I fall off the top and hit the ground with an "umph".  
"See what you've done Robbie, Tori hurt herself!" Trina yells, helping me stand up.  
"I'm fine, what's wrong with the gate?" I ask as I brush myself off, wincing at the pain in my side. Ribs are bruised. Just bruised, I hope.  
"I was trying to fix the engine…" Robbie starts.  
"Which we told you not to do." Beck sighs from his perch up in the tower.  
"And it just went boom. I don't know what happened." Robbie finishes sheepishly.  
"What happened is you don't know what you're doing, we told you to leave it alone." Jade fumes, casting me what looks like a worried look. "You're on toilet cleaning duty for a month."  
"But…" Robbie tries.  
"No buts, if this can't be fixed we might have to find somewhere to live. You're lucky we're not throwing you out." Jade looks coolly at Robbie. "Go away now."  
Robbie scurries off into the house quicker than I thought possible.  
"Can you fix this? Cat said you're good with mechanical stuff." Jade asks, looking aloof. She looks mad at me, a huge switch from the worried look she shot me a minute ago. Maybe I imagined it.  
"I can try." I tell her, walking over to look at the smoking engine.  
"Good." She stalks off into the house without even looking back at me. My brow furrows in confusion. I thought we were being friends? Evidently someone has changed their mind.  
I sigh before turning back to the engine, kneeling down and setting to work.

* * *

It's almost dinner time by the time I'm nearly finished with the gates engine. I've managed to find the problem and fix it, although it wasn't easy. I'm covered in soot from the smoke and engine grease but I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself when I lean back onto my ankles and look at my work.  
"Fixed it?" A can of food with a spoon sticking out of it appears next to my face.  
"Yeah, just about." I take the can and look up at the person who's offered it to me. "Still mad at me?" I ask.  
"I wasn't mad at you." Jade sits down next to me, nose crinkling when she notices how dirty I am. "I was just… I get mean when I'm angry. I just don't like the idea of losing this place, or losing someone who's in danger because of someone else's stupid mistake." She sighs. "I'm sorry."  
"It's fine. I wish I'd known that before you bit my head off though." I grin, tucking into my food. I didn't even realise how hungry I was, too occupied by my work.  
"You're good at that" Jade nods her head towards the motor, mouth full of food. "I was watching you work, pretty impressive." She grins. "Definitely worth keeping around."  
I pout "You just want me for my mechanical skills."  
"I'm sure you've got other uses." She smirks back at me. Is she flirting with me? It sounds like she's flirting with me. Maybe she's like this with everyone. Probably. I don't see why I'm special. I decide to play along.  
"You have no idea." I grin, moving how I'm sat so my legs are kicked out beside me.  
She's silent for a minute before the she speaks again. "How long until the engines finished?"  
"Just need to put the cover back on her and you can fire her up!" I tell her, putting down my tin of food to lift the cover of the engine up and slide it into place.  
"Her?" She raises an eyebrow.  
"Of course it's a girl, engines are always girls." I nod at her, causing her to laugh again.  
"Whatever you say." She raises her voice, "Hey Beck! Turn the gate on!"  
Beck flips the switch in reply, and the engine splutters. For a minute I think that it's not going to work but it purrs to life, opening the gate almost silently.  
"Wow, it works better than it did before," Jade nods appreciatively. "Well done."  
She pulls in the cart full of wood from this morning then nods to Beck, who flicks the switch again and lets the gate slide closed.

* * *

After I've finished my dinner I climb up into the watchtower, which is an old tree house someone's converted. The branches have all been cut away, leaving the house standing on the supports, exposed. There's a roof on it, for when it rains, but if it had walls before, they've been torn away, leaving a skeleton.  
It's got a couple of chairs in there, and a huge sniper rifle with a suppressor on the end. It's sitting on a support, but it looks like it hasn't been touched in a while. There's also a box that looks like it's used as a makeshift table, a book and a pair of binoculars sitting on top of it.  
Beck runs me through the basics. "All you've gotta do is keep a watch of the area. Spot a walker or a crawler, you don't need to shoot them unless they get too close. Spot survivors, or a Feral, radio down and let us know." He nods to the chair. "Just don't fall asleep." He laughs sheepishly. "Because Jade will catch you, and then it'll be you who's cleaning the toilet for a month."  
He says his goodbyes and heads down the ladder, disappearing into the house.

I quickly realise why he told me not to fall asleep, because watch duty is boring. I've been up there for an hour when I stand and start pacing. I wish I'd thought to keep some books or something while we've been travelling, because they'd come in handy now. I tried to read the book that's been left on the box table but it's a book about a nascar racer that's obviously Becks and it's boring.  
After about 2 hours, Cat comes up to see how I'm doing, and to tell me about her day. It's the first time we've spent the day apart in so long that I'm actually relieved when her face pops up over the edge of the tower.  
She blabbers on for a good half an hour until she realises she's supposed to be helping Andre with mapping out new locations for us to check out and disappears back down the ladder.  
Maybe she's making excuses and she just got bored of sitting up here.

* * *

I'm cleaning my nails with the pocket knife I keep in my boot when someone speaks from behind me, making me jump and causing me to pull my side, making me hiss in pain.  
"I've missed having that effect on people." She jokes until she realises I've hurt myself. "Are you okay?"  
"Yeah, I just bruised myself earlier, you know, my whole trying to fly thing" I laugh weakly. "What are you even doing up here anyway? Can't stay away?"  
She smirks. "Something like that." She pulls one of the unused chairs up next to me, sitting down. "Can I see?"  
"See what?" My brow furrows, confused.  
"Your Pokémon card collection," She deadpans. "Your ribs, you idiot. I'm the unofficial doctor round these parts, just wanna make sure you're okay."  
"Oh… It's okay, I'm fine, it's just a bruise." I tell her, but she obviously doesn't believe me.  
"Just let me look."  
"Jade…" She continues to stare at me. "Fine, but after, not now. I'm supposed to be watching."  
"Fine, but when Robbie comes to relieve you, I'm looking." She smiles smugly.  
"You know, anyone would think you cared about me."  
"Psh, as if. I just don't want to be dragging around a spare wheel." She tells me, but she's smiling.

* * *

When we clamber down an hour later, Jade practically drags me through the house and up to her room. As we pass through the kitchen, Cat smiles at us from the table, were she's mixing something in a bowl, and Trina shaking cans and listening to the noise they make. "We're having something hot for tea, since you got extra wood this morning. 3 hours."  
"Trina what are you doing?" I ask, pulling at Jades arm to get her to stop.  
"I'm listening to the cans, obviously." She rolls her eyes like I've asked her the stupidest question in the world.  
"But, why?"  
"So I can find the right one, nosey posey." When I narrow my eyes in question, she continues. "Different stuff makes different noises, and we need the right one."  
I go to ask another question Jade drags me off upstairs instead.

* * *

"Why are we in your room?" I ask, looking around awkwardly.  
"So I can have my wicked way with you." She tells me with a straight face. "I keep all of the medical stuff in here, so it doesn't get wasted. Now take your top off."  
"What?!" I splutter, face reddening.  
"So I can look at your ribs! Jeez Vega, get your mind out of the gutter." She rolls her eyes.  
I feel my face cool as I reach down to pull at the hem of my shirt. I wince and stop a few seconds later.  
"Here." Jade comes up behind me, taking hold of the edge of the material. "Let me help." She eases the t-shirt off gently, apologising when I hiss in pain.  
Once she's got my shirt off, she takes hold of my hips and moves me slightly so she can take a look at my ribs. I haven't even looked at my injury myself and my eyebrows shoot up with surprise when I see the angry red skin. It's grazed, and the entire thing is surrounded by a quickly darkening purple bruise.  
"Why didn't you say anything? " Jade asks, looking through a box of supplies.  
"I didn't know it was that bad." I admit, still looking down at my side.  
"This is probably gonna sting." She tells me as she wets a wad of cotton with an antiseptic. "But we can't risk you getting an infection, not these days, so it's worth it."  
She wasn't lying when she said it would sting. At first I jump slightly at how cold the wet cotton is against my skin, but the disinfectant soaks through quickly, causing me to hiss in pain.  
By the time Jade's finished, and has rubbed another antiseptic into my skin, this one in cream form, tears have pooled in my eyes.  
"All done." She tells me, smiling up from where she's perched on the edge of the bed for easier access. "You okay?"  
"Yeah, it just really stung, that's all." I wipe at my eyes.  
She picks up my t-shirt from the bed, but instead of handing it too me, instructs me to lift up my arms and slides the t-shirt over my head.  
"Better?" She asks softly, pulling them hem down and straightening out against my waist.  
"Totally not what I was expecting." I blurt out accidentally.  
"What is?" Jade sounds confused, pierced eyebrow rising slowly.  
"You."

* * *

**Hey friendships.  
It's Tuesday in England, so here you go. I hope you all enjoy it. And review if you want to... I mean, I don't wanna pressure you or anything but we've been doing this for like a month and I think it's time to take it to the next level, don't you?**

**I also didn't really proof read this, so if there's any mistakes I'm sorry. I wish I had an excuse for not proofing but I've been hardcore playing AC2 all weekend. **

**Next update is Thursday or Friday, depending on how nice I'm feeling.  
BYE xxx**


	6. Six

"Dinner's ready." I look up toward the door of the house to see my sister standing on the bottom step. Clambering up from the grass under the tree I brush myself and walk over to her.  
"You spend too much time under that tree, Tor." Trina tells me when I approach her, grinning.  
"I was thinking."  
"What about?" Trina looks down at me from the step.  
"Just… None of this was what I ever expected. It's a lot to take in. I just needed some time to… to process, I guess?" I run my hand through my hair.  
"Well, you can process after dinner. Cat's been cooking up a storm in there. It actually smells delicious, which is a first." Trina laughs, "It usually smells like dog food." She wraps an arm around my shoulder, pulling me closer to her. "Come on."

* * *

Cat's outdone herself. Considering all she had to work with was stuff in cans and dry foods, everything she's made is delicious.  
There's pasta, some form of tinned meat, even dried mashed potato. Everyone piles into the kitchen, even Robbie, who's supposed to be on watch comes down, although he sits as far away from Jade as he possibly can, which makes me chuckle inwardly.  
I finally get to see Lane and Sikowitz, who inform me they've been repairing an old bus for larger scouting trips. Lane's eyes light up when Trina tells them that I'm quite the handy mechanic, and before I know what's happened I've been roped into the last of the bus repairs.

* * *

When we've finally finished eating, and everyone is full, rubbing their stomachs and smiling, Lane yanks me up out of my chair and we head back toward the old wooden garage at the front of the house. Lane throws open the doors, grinning, and I have to be impressed with the work they've done on the bus.  
"It's an old school bus we found down in the town." Lane runs his hand along the side as he talks.  
The yellow paint on the outside is flaking a little, and there's bloody handprints and splatters across it, but they've covered the outside in everything from barbed wire to bits of broken glass. The front bumper's been reinforced, and all the windows have covered with chicken wire.  
"It's mostly done, it's just it takes forever for the engine to turn over. And we're no good with any actual mechanics. As you can probably tell with the gate."  
"Yeah, I fixed that." I grin at him. "Easy-peasy."  
"Then this engine will be a piece of cake." He slaps the bonnet. "We'll start in the morning, so get a good night's sleep."

* * *

"I can't believe Lane's letting you touch that bus." I'm under the tree again. I can't help it, it's my go-to place, but apparently it's also the most obvious place for anyone to sit. I look up to see Sam grinning down at me. "He won't let anyone touch that bus. Not me, not Robbie. Not even Jade." She sits down next to me.  
"What can I say, I've got magic hands." I wiggle my fingers and grin at her. We sit in silence for a few minutes before I speak again. "What're you doing out here?"  
"I'm on watch in half an hour, didn't have anything better to do." She glances at me before she carries on talking. "Jade she likes you… Well, maybe like is a strong word for Jade, but she respects you. Which I reckon makes you worth getting to know." She sighs. "I'm not a social person. I never have been, always stuck with the same people, the same group, my entire life. Carly, she's been getting on at me to 'get along with others', says I'm not helping myself, cutting myself off from almost everyone. So I'm trying to make friends." She runs a hand up through her blonde hair.  
"So why don't you make friends with Jade?" I ask her, watching her through the corner of my eye.  
She laughs. "We're too alike. We can't even be in the same room without arguing. I respect her, she's brilliant, but we butt heads about everything. Even things we agree on."  
"Fair enough." I start plucking at the grass until I remember I'm not supposed to and still my hands.  
"We don't have to do that thing, you know?" She tells me, still looking up at the sky.  
"What thing?"  
"You know, I say something, then you say something, then there's a moment, and someone cries…"  
"Yuck."  
"Yeah, I think we're gonna get along just fine, Kid."

* * *

"Get up." Thump. I crack open an eye to see Lane standing over me. "Get up, time to be a superstar mechanic."  
"It's not even light yet…" I roll over and pull the pillow Lane's just dropped on me over my head.  
"Exactly, I wanna get this finished today, so get up." He pulls the pillow off my head and hits me with it again.  
"Tori, will you get up?" Cat mumbles from under her covers.  
"Fine, I'm getting up. Now get out so I can get ready." I throw my covers up and sit up, running a hand through my hair.  
"But I'm sleeping."  
"Not you, Cat."

* * *

"Alright, so I thought we'd start at the front with the radiator, and work our way back." Lane thrusts a cup into my hand. I sniff it cautiously.  
"Coffee?" My eyes widen. "You have coffee?!"  
"It's for emergencies. I practically had to beg Jade to let me make us a cup."  
I take a huge gulp. "Okay! Let's get to work!"

* * *

I emerge from the garage six hours later, covered in grease and soot and god knows what else with a huge smile on my face.  
"You're grinning." I jump out of my skin when Jade practically materialises next to me.  
"Holy hell! You're like a ninja." I put my hand to my chest, smearing more dirt on myself.  
"It's a talent." She smirks at me. "Why are you so smiley?"  
"It's nice to work on a car without worrying about getting eaten, or ripped to shreds. To just work." I rub my hands against my jeans. "When I was little, and me and Trina would put shows on for our family and friends, and they'd all look on in wide-eyed wonder when I sang, I used to get this feeling, like the best feeling in the world. Working on cars, buses, whatever, bringing them back to life, that's the closest I get to it now." I sigh and smile again. "So I'm smiling."  
"You're also gross." She looks me up and down. "So gross. Go and shower."  
"Yes, boss." I salute her and march off into the house.

* * *

BANG.  
I'm towelling off my hair after my shower when something hits the outside wall so hard the entire house shakes. I finish off my hair quickly, slide into my shoes and run outside.  
"What the fuck is that?!" Trina practically screeches from outside as I reach the door.  
"What the hell Robbie, you were supposed to be watching the road!" Beck yells.  
"I… I... I was, I fell asleep for a minute, I swear!" Robbie starts defending himself as I come through the door. I bounce down the steps and round the house to the front gate, where a group has started to gather.  
Throwing itself at the front gate is the biggest, ugliest infected I've ever seen. It's easily twice the height of Beck, and almost as wide as a car, and with every hit, the gate looks less and less sturdy.  
Jade storms out of the house behind us and immediately zooms in on Robbie. "What fuck happened?" She grabs him by his collar and spins, pinning him up against the side of the house. "You were supposed to be watching, you call that watching?"  
I notice Jade has a rifle slung over her shoulder, and as she shakes Robbie again, Spencer, Gibby and Sam come streaming out of the house, holding more guns.  
"Here kid." Sam throws a gun towards me and I catch it easily, throwing the strap over my shoulder and making sure it's loaded. She throws a box of rifle ammo to me when I'm done and I thrust it into the pocket of my jacket before turning to face the behemoth at the gate.  
The metal of the gate is warped now, hanging from its hinges. Another handful of hits and it will be off. Obviously everyone thinks the same thing, because within a few seconds everyone with a gun is firing on it.

* * *

To no effect. I empty almost an entire box of ammo into that thing and it's still standing. "Fuck."  
"Double fuck." Jade agrees from beside me. "We're gonna need more than guns to take this thing down."  
"We need to get it away from the house before it…" I don't even finish the sentence before the gate comes flying off its hinges, hitting Spencer and Sam and sending them sprawling.  
The huge monster growls then steps forward, ground shaking under the weight of the infected.  
"You got anything stronger than guns?" I ask Jade, looking round. Gibby and Beck are pulling the gate up off Sam and Spencer while some of the others try and drag them out from underneath.  
"Yeah, you got a plan?" She asks, throwing her gun down in anger.  
"Yeah, go and get it, whatever it is." I raise my voice so the others can hear me. "Get those two inside, as far away from the outside walls as you can. Stay quiet, keep low."  
"What're you doing?" Jade asks, eyes wide.  
"I'm gonna be the distraction. Now hurry." I give her a shove to put my point across. She runs off into the house as the others drag Sam out from under the mangled metal, pulling her back from the mess.  
I pick up a discarded handgun, checking it for bullets. Nearly a full clip. Good. I take a deep breath.  
"HEY! YOU BIG UGLY MOTHERFUCKER!" I shoot at its head to for full effect. It works, the infected turns toward me, growling. "Come on! Get me, I'm so tasty." I shoot at it again, hitting it in the shoulder, before running around it, standing in the gap the gate used to occupy.  
It follows me, grunting as it turns around. It kind of reminds me of a huge baby, wobbling on its feet, fat hands grasping in front of it. "Come on then!" I yell again, and it takes a few steps forward, gaining speed. I backtrack quickly, surprised. It's a lot faster than I thought it would be. I hope Jade hurries up. I fire off a few more bullets, hitting various marks on its body, to make sure it's still following me. "Woooo!" Woo? What? I can see Jade running back down the steps of the house, clutching… Is that a rocket launcher? Crap. I back up even further.  
"Tori?" Jade yells from the gate.  
"Yeah?"  
"Run." She hefts the gun up onto her shoulder and Lane appears behind her, shoving a shell into the barrel of the gun.  
I take off running, trying to put enough distance between myself and the infected that's about to be in bits. I almost do it too, but I'm still close enough to get lifted off my feet by the blast.  
"Ooft." The air's knocked out of me when I hit the floor, landing heavy on my right side. I roll, trying to cushion the impact from the fall. It still hurts. It hurts enough that I freeze for a second, trying to let my body adjust. I roll over again, trying to push myself to my feet, even though my body protests.  
I make it to my knees before I hear the familiar sound of a walker, too close for comfort. I drop back down onto my back, rolling to face the walker and levelling the gun to its face. I pull the trigger and… click. Empty.

* * *

Fuck. I throw the gun into the face of the walker, although it does little to stop it bearing down on me. I try and shuffle back but when my ankle connects with the ground a searing pain shoots up my leg. Great. This is ridiculous. I survived Ferals, that big, gross thing, a million other stupid things that should've killed me and I'm gonna get eaten by a crusty old walker. It's even missing an arm, for Christ's sake.  
It leans down, close enough that I can smell its rotting breath, and snarls. I squeeze my eyes closed, holding my breath and wait for the first bite.

* * *

Instead of the pain I was expecting, I hear the soft woosh of a silencer, and the weight that was leaning over my body disappears. I crack open one eye and see Jade standing over me, grinning.  
"You gonna lie there all day, sleepy?" She teases me, but I can see the worry in her eyes.  
"It's just so comfy! I can't believe you shot my snuggle buddy!" I laugh, then wince at the pain in my body.  
"Come on, let's get you back up to the house." Jade reaches down, sliding a hand under my legs and another under my shoulder. She lifts me up like I weigh nothing.  
"Whoa." I throw my arms around her neck in surprise.  
She doesn't say anything, just walks back up to the house.  
She walks up through the house without saying anything, heading straight up to her room and putting me down on her bed.

* * *

"I'm sleepy." I grumble when she unwraps my hands from around her neck.  
"Give me ten minutes and you can sleep, okay?" She tells me, reaching under her bed to get the medical supplies I seem to be powering through. "You've used more of these in the past couple of days than the rest of us have in a month." She practically reads my thoughts.  
She cleans a cut on my forehead first, I didn't even know that I'd cut my forehead.  
"You have soft hands…" I mumble, half awake.  
"And you have concussion." She laughs softly, pressing a band-aid over the wound on my head.  
The door clicks open, but I can't focus enough to look who it is. Jade mumbles something to the new member of the room and they leave again, the door clicking closed behind them.  
"We're using your car to block the gate." She tells me, fingers working up my shirt to check my torso.  
"Mmkay." I just agree, rolling when she lifts up my side to check my back.  
"Your ribs don't look too much worse, nothing feels broken." She sounds more like she's talking to herself than to me. She feels down my legs, hand shooting back when I hiss in pain. "I know it hurts, but I need to check if it's broken." She takes hold of my right ankle, feeling it gently. "I know, I'm sorry." She mutters when I groan in pain. "It's not broken though, which is the good news."  
"Bananas are an excellent source of potassium." My head feels so heavy I can't concentrate on anything.  
"And when was the last time you saw a banana?" Jade laughs, running a hand through my hair softly, then standing up.  
"You're a banana." I manage to grumble out before everything blacks out.

* * *

I don't know what time it is when I wake up but my head is pounding. I sit up, throwing my legs over the side of the bed and trying not to vomit. My head is still spinning, and everything feels sluggish, but I'm so thirsty that moving is taking priority.  
I take a deep breath and stand up, wincing when pain shoots up my leg from my ankle.  
I start to hobble towards the door and walk straight into a dresser. Oh yeah, Jade's room. I sigh and start in the actual direction of the door this time, throwing it open. I know why I woke up now, because it sounds like the rest of the house is yelling at each other downstairs.  
I head to the stairs, gripping the bannister and trying to descend.  
I get about two steps down before I have to stop, still gripping onto the bannister and breathing out heavily.  
I look around for another way to get down the stairs before realising the only way I'll make it is to slide down. Sitting down, I hold my bad ankle up away from the floor and start bumping down the steps. "This is fabulous." I mutter to myself.

* * *

By the time I've reached the bottom the yelling has intensified. I can make out Jade's voice, raised above the rest, but I've no idea what they're saying. I yank myself up again, and limp into the main room.  
Everyone is standing around looking angry and shouting. Even Cat looks like she could murder someone. Jade's in the middle of the room, holding Robbie up by the collar again. He looks like he's going to faint.  
They're so busy shouting at each other that they don't even notice me prop myself up in the doorway. I watch them for a minute before I decide to interrupt.  
"Enough!" I yell, causing the room to turn and look at me. The room fall silent. "What the hell is going on?" Trina is at my side in a flash, wrapping an arm around my waist and practically carrying me to a chair. I roll my eyes and allow her to set me down before I turn my gaze to the group. "Well?"  
"We have to leave." Jade tells me, looking at Robbie coldly. "The gate is broken beyond repair, and the noise from the fight with that big bastard earlier has attracted more zeds. There's a huge horde heading this way."  
"Zeds?" I ask, frowning.  
"Zombies. You know, the infected?" She tells me before she continues. "Not everyone thinks it's a good idea to leave." She turns to address the room. "We don't have a choice! Sam and Spencer are injured as well, and there aren't enough of us to fight off what's coming. Even if we could, there's no way we'll be able to stand guard and keep the infected out now! I know this is our home, but we'll find a new one. The bus is ready to be used, right?"  
"Yeah, I guess. I wanted to do a test run first but if we needed it we could use it now." Lane frowns.  
"Alright, Trina, you and Cat pack up everyone's clothes. Doesn't need to be pretty, just get them into bags. Beck, how long did you say we have?"  
"About an hour, give or take." He tells her, leaning up against the wall.  
"Okay, you and Andre, move all our guns and ammo onto the bus, Sikowitz, you get the food. Lane, Carly and Gibby, you get Spencer and Sam out and onto the bus. But get the bus out of the garage first."  
"What're you gonna do?" Carly asks.  
"Keep watch, make sure nothing comes creeping up while we're busy, keep the entrance clear."  
"On your own?"  
"No, Tori can help me, she can just do it sitting down." She grins at me.  
"What should I do?" Robbie asks from the corner he's retreated to.  
"Stay out of everyone's way, you obviously can't be trusted." She practically growls at him and he scuttles out of the room. "Alright people, let's do this!"  
Everyone leaves to do their thing, leaving me and Jade alone.  
"You can walk, right?" She asks me, heading over to the corner to pick up two rifles that are propped up against the wall.  
"Yeah, kinda limpy though." I tell her as she shoves a gun into my hand.  
"You hobble, I'll carry your chair."

* * *

Jade sets my chair down on one side of the gate, watching me cautiously as I settle down into the seat. "How're you feeling now?"  
"Like shit, my head is killing me, but it could be worse, I could be Robbie." I grin lopsidedly at her, causing her to laugh.  
"Yeah, that's true. When we find a new home that boys gonna be sleeping in the garden forever." She chuckles, looking off down the dirt road. "I wish we didn't have to leave."  
"I know, but who knows, we might find an even better house. One with cable and a fridge stocked with beer." I feel in my pockets, finding a pack of cigarettes and pulling them out. I stick one in my mouth before offering the packet to Jade.  
"You smoke?" She asks me, surprised.  
"I had to do something to compete with Cat's bibble addiction." I grin, setting down my rifle to light the end of the stick.  
"Hey!" Cat grumbles from behind me, hefting a bag towards the bus.  
I offer my lighter to Jade and she lights her own cigarette, inhaling deeply. "Oh, that's good. We've not found anywhere that still has cigs left. It's like the zed's eat them or something."  
"You have cigarettes?" Beck comes running over, still carrying a box full of ammo. "When did you get cigarettes?"  
"They're not mine." She nods to me.  
"Can I have one?" His eyes are wide, and he looks as excited as a kid on Christmas.  
"Oh, I don't know… Have you finished all your chores?" I ask him, smiling.  
"This is the last box, I swear." He runs off towards the bus, practically thrusting the box at Andre, who's descending the stairs of the vehicle.  
He's back to us in a flash, and I pull the packet from my pocket, offering it to him. He pulls one out the pulls a lighter from his own pocket, lighting the tip.  
"Oh, that's good." He throws his head back and laughs. "So good." He looks down at me and grins. "You've been holding out on me, Tori!"  
"Are we nearly ready?" Jade asks, interrupting us. She looks annoyed. The kind of annoyed she looked the day we met and she poured coffee on my head. Does she think I'm flirting with Beck?  
"Yeah, just loading the last of the stuff now." Beck tells her, interrupting my train of thought.  
"Do you think everyone will hate me?" Worry flashes across her face briefly.  
"They know you're doing it for the best." Beck reassures her, rubbing her arm. Something about the action makes me feel uneasy but I push it down.  
"If anything, they'll hate Robbie." I interject.  
"Yeah, I think they already do." Beck chuckles.  
"Hey guys, we're ready to go!" Andre jogs over, stopping beside me. "Everyone's just waiting instructions, boss." He grins.  
"Alright, gather everyone around the bus." She tells him, nodding to herself. "Come on, you." She offers her hand to me and I take it, letting her ease me up off the stool.

* * *

"I don't really want to leave two perfectly good cars behind, so I'm looking for volunteers to drive them." Beck and Gibby raise their hands, and Jade nods. "Andre, you ride with Beck in Tori's truck. Gibby, the other car's smaller so I'm leaving you on your own until the rest of the group are back up on their feet. We'll follow Beck, since he's the best with directions, and head out of town west, since the horde we saw earlier is heading toward us from the east. We're breaking out the old walkie-talkie system to stay in touch while we're on the move." She runs a hand through her hair. "I don't know where we're heading yet, but there's a smaller town about 100 miles away that might work for now, so we'll head that direction and send in a scouting group to set it out. Everyone okay with that plan?"  
The group nods and murmurs in agreement before splitting up and heading to their respective vehicles. I shuffle over to the bus and stand in front of it, eyeing up the steps. Strong arms sweep me up from behind, lifting me and carrying me, bridal style, onto the bus.  
"You know, if you keep carrying me around I'm gonna get spoilt and forget how to walk." I mumble, face buried in Jade's hair. It smells really nice, like vanilla, which is weird because we're in some weird apocalypse and hair products are the last thing on anyone's mind. Does she have a secret stash of fancy shampoo? Or does she just naturally smell good?  
My thoughts are interrupted by her setting me down gently onto a seat.  
"Sit tight, I'll come back when we're on the road." She tells me softly, before sauntering off to the front of the bus to talk to Sikowitz.

* * *

I hadn't been inside the bus when we were fixing it up, but it really does look like they'd set it up in case this had happened. They've pulled up a few seats at the back of the bus, and in their place they've set up all sorts of stuff. Right at the back of the bus, to the right of the emergency exit door, is a large cupboard, probably filled with the ammo Beck and Andre moved. Next to it there's a rack, currently filled with the bags Trina and Cat hauled out of the house.  
On the left they've set up a few cots, bolted to the floor, and currently two of these are taken up by Sam and Spencer, who're both still sleeping off the effects of the attack. I have no idea if they're even aware of the fact we're currently pulling away from the house they'd made their home.  
Carly is hovering protectively in between her brother and her best friend, eyes flitting between the two, while Cat and Trina flit about, moving the rest of the supplies to their designated area.  
Robbie's sitting as far back on the bus as he can, staring out of the window silently. He looks like he's been crying, and part of me wants to go and talk to him, but I'm still kinda mad he fell asleep on duty and caused this mess.  
Cat pats his shoulder while she works, causing him to smile briefly.

* * *

It's dark by the time we've cleared the little town we were staying in, and most of the occupants of the bus have fallen asleep. I can hear Jade murmuring something over the radio about pulling up for the night so we can rest, and five minutes later, we cruise to a stop at the side of the road, Gibby and Beck pulling the cars up next to us in a small semi-circle. I know there's enough room to sleep in the truck, and they must have some arrangement in the car to be able to sleep but I'm still surprised they don't come over to the bus.  
"You tired?" Jade appears beside me, outline barely visible in the dark.  
"I could sleep, yeah." I wipe at my eyes tiredly and I think she smiles.  
She reaches her hand out. "Come on." She helps me to the back of the bus, were there's one cot spare. Trina is sprawled across one and Cat's curled up on the other one like a… Well, like a cat. Carly's curled up on the floor, still in between Sam and Spencer but she's got what looks like a mat and she's covered by a blanket, pillow resting under her head.  
Lane shimmies past us, grabbing a few blankets and heading back down the bus. He pauses to throw one over Robbie then heads back down the bus towards Sikowitz.  
"Go on, lie down." Jade pushes me gently toward the last free cot.  
"Where will you sleep?" I whisper, looking at her.  
"On one of the seats, brainless. Now go to sleep." She pushes me again.  
"No, you should sleep here, I'll sleep on the seat." I argue, trying to push her towards the bed.  
She sighs, looking at me before stepping towards the bed. When I move back to go back to a seat, she grabs my arm, stopping me. "I have an idea."  
"An idea?"  
"Yeah, come here." She pulls me towards her then turns towards the cot, pushing the blanket back. "We'll just share." It's not a question but her voice still has a questioning tone to it. She lies down, shuffling back so there's enough room for me. "Come here."  
I lower myself down onto the bed, settling so I'm touching Jade as little as possible. She surprises me when her arm snakes around my waist, pulling me back. "Night Tori." She mumbles into my hair.  
A smattering of butterflies work their way across my chest.  
"Night Jade."

* * *

**Shit's getting gay as balls up in the hizzie. I wish I was gangster. gangsta.  
Gonna be a bit of a delay on the next chapter I think, I'm down to one chapter in front and I wanna get a couple more written so I'm not leaving you guys with massive pauses. I'll say Monday for the next one but if I get done writing before then I'll stick one up.  
As always, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and that you feel like you want to review, because I would love love love that. Also, the game Crackdown makes no sense to me. **

** Thank you for reading!**


	7. Seven

"Get up." Someone hisses at us, and when I open my eyes Trina is crouching over me. The space in the bed where Jade lay is empty. "Get up now."  
"What? Why?" I grumble, throwing my legs over the side of the bed. When I move to stand, Trina grabs my shoulder, pushing me down. "You just told me to get up!" I tell her, annoyed.  
"Shhh, crawl, come on!" She works her way down toward the front of the bus, were the rest of the group is gathered. I slide into a seat, keeping my head down, and peep out of the window.  
Across from us, I can make out the worried eyes of Beck and Andre, peeking out of the window of their own vehicle.  
"What's going on?" I whisper. I look around and notice Sam sitting next to Carly, bandages wrapped around her head and her hand. Spencer's still out cold at the back of the bus.  
"There's a screamer. If we move, make even a little bit of noise, it'll make a noise and every zed in the area will be on us like flies on shit." Jade tells me, looking out of the window.  
Sure enough, an infected ambles past the window. It has no arms, and its eyes are black, and under its neck is a red mark. As I watch it, the mark inflates a little before deflating.  
"So, we just wait til it's moved on, what's the problem?" I'm confused. I've never seen one of these before. Back when it was just me and Cat, we avoided anywhere that looked like it had more than 10 infected.  
"Whenever they turn up, it's just a matter of time before there's a horde. They cause infestations, something about them attracts the walkers. They're usually in houses though, I've never seen one outside." Trina tells me, popping her head up over the window.  
"We need a plan. Again." Jade sighs, resting her head against a metal pole. "We could just try and get out of here as fast as we can, but if one of the engines stalls, or we don't all go at the same time, we could be up shit creek." She sighs.  
"I don't think we've got any other choice." Sikowitz whispers, looking round at us. "It's a risk, but I don't see what else we can do it's not like we…" Sikowitz trails off when there's a loud crash from the back of the bus. We look up to see Robbie tangled in a pile of bags.  
"What the fuck are you doing?" Jade hisses.  
"It's okay, maybe it didn't hear that." Cat reasons.  
No such luck. A few seconds later and an ear piercing shriek rips through the bus, causing everyone to throw their hands up to cover their ears.

* * *

Lane springs into action straight away, diving into the driver's seat. "We need to go, now!" He yells through the walkie-talkie to the others before pushing the engine into drive. It hums to life beautifully, a testament to my work, and Lane pulls onto the road.  
Beck puts my truck into drive, pulling up in front of us, and we all look at Gibby, who hasn't moved.  
"Guys, I think we've got a problem." His voice crackles over the radio. I can hear the car turning over in the background. "It won't start, I'm stuck." I look out of the window, watching as the screamer shuffles towards Gibby. "Get out of here."  
"No, we'll get you, just give us a minute." Jade stands up, heading to the metal cupboard at the back of the bus, where the guns are.  
"No, there's no time, a huge horde is heading right this way." Gibby tells us. Sure enough, there's already a gathering around the other car, and a large group of walkers is heading right this way. "Get out of here!" He yells over the radio.  
"No." Robbie stands up, walking to the front of the bus. "This is my fault, no one else gets hurt because of me." He takes the gun out of Jade's hand, then grabs the radio. "I'm gonna distract them, when they turn on me, you run." He doesn't give Gibby a chance to reply, dropping the radio and pushing the emergency release on the door.  
"Robbie, no!" Cat grabs his arm, trying to stop him. A tear rolls down her cheek.  
"I'm a liability. You're all better off without me. And I won't let Gibby die." He pulls his arm out of Cat's grasp. "I'm sorry."  
"Hey, you ugly motherfuckers!" Robbie runs full pelt at the screamer, shooting two shots into its torso. "Come and get me, tasty meat!" He runs past them and sure enough, they all turn, heading in his direction. Gibby watches him, wide-eyed for a second, before throwing open the door of the car, heading towards Beck and Andre.  
Andre throws open the door of the truck, shooting over Gibby's head and hitting a stray walker that followed him, Gibby ducks, then dives into the car, the door slamming shut behind him.  
"There's still time to get Robbie!" Jade says, throwing us into action. He's heading back towards the bus, apparently unscathed. "Start driving. Slowly." Jade tells Lane, who relays the information to the truck. She rushes down to the back of the bus, pushing open the door.  
"Hurry up!" She whisper-shouts at Robbie, who's running up the road.  
"I'm going as fast as I can!" He replies, although he speeds up a little. He reaches the back of the door, and Jade reaches a hand out, grabbing onto Robbie.  
We all sigh in relief, watching as Jade hauls the boy through the open door.  
"I thought I was really dead that time." He chuckles, bending over to get his breath back.  
My eyes flit forward, looking at the, thankfully clear, road ahead.

* * *

I'm starting to relax when a blood curdling scream rips through the bus.  
"NO!" Jade screams, and I turn around just in time to see Robbie disappear from the door.  
"What the fuck?" I gasp, eyes wide.  
"Feral." Jade pulls the gun out from her waistband, firing at him. "Stop, we need to go back and get him!" She turns and looks at Lane, who doesn't slow down. "Why aren't you stopping!?"  
"Jade, you know…" Sikowitz starts.  
"No, he could still be alive! We can't just leave him!" She protests, looking out through the door. She stands for a minute before she closes it softly, leaning against it.  
"Jade…" Cat starts softly, eyes shining with tears.  
"Don't." Her voice is flat, dead, and she takes a seat as far away from us as possible, staring out of the window.

* * *

Everyone sits around the bus, not knowing what to do. Cat and Trina cry, and Carly alternates between fussing over Sam and Spencer, who's sort of awake now. Lane and Sikowitz talk between themselves quietly.  
I watch Jade. She hasn't even moved her gaze in the past hour. I don't know if she knows I'm watching her, but she doesn't do anything about it if she does.  
I let another ten minutes pass before I haul myself out of my seat and limp toward her. It's hard enough moving around on solid ground with my injured ankle, so I look ridiculous staggering up the bus.  
I'm actually sweating a little when I plop into the seat next to Jade.  
"I don't want to talk." She tells me, voice still flat.  
"Okay."  
"I mean it."  
"Okay."  
We sit in silence for a while before she shudders slightly, drawing my attention. Now I'm closer to her, I can see the tear tracks on her face.  
"I wasn't fast enough." She mutters, low enough that only I hear. "I wasn't… I wasn't good enough." Fresh tears fall. I don't know what to do, so I take her hand, lacing our fingers together tightly. She shudders again, lighter this time, then lets out a shaky breath.  
She doesn't say anything else, so neither do I. We sit in silence, hands locked, until I drift asleep.

* * *

"Hey." I groan against my pillow. "Tori?" My pillow is moving. And it's harder than usual. I shuffle about until it's soft again, and hear someone laugh.  
My eyes ping open and I come face to... er… chest, with Jade. "Get out of my tits." She laughs. I shoot up.  
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry." I stutter out, red-faced.  
Jade laughs again. "Shut up, you idiot. We're stopping for food, come on." She stands up, and I realise our hands are still entwined. She doesn't let go, just pulls me to the front of the now empty bus. "Need me to carry you down the steps?"  
"No." I immediately blurt out, embarrassed. Then I look at the steps. "Yes."  
Jade descends the steps before she turns, holding her arms out. I step forward and she grips my waist, lifting me toward her. Then she stumbles and nearly drops me, and we end up a lot closer than she probably intended.  
"Get out of my tits." I laugh, and Jade puts me down on the ground properly, grinning. We're still very close. She still smells like vanilla, and mint. She obviously brushed her teeth today. Which reminds me that I didn't. Oh god, does my breath smell? I hope not because if it does, Jade can definitely smell it. She laughs, breaking the tension, and drags me over to the little circle our group has formed.  
I slide down next to Beck while Jade disappears to get me some food.

* * *

"You and Jade are getting awfully close." He tells me, spooning what looks like rice pudding into his mouth.  
"She's… she's not the same girl that poured coffee on me. What happened?" I ask him, watching her dig through a box on the other side of the circle.  
"This happened. At first it was little changes, I mean, she was always bossy, but she started bossing people around out of love rather than fear. She changed even more when we broke up." He sighs. "I think I was holding her back."  
"Why did you break up?" I ask, unable to help myself. "Sorry, you don't have to answer that."  
"It's okay." He laughs. Jade looks at us across the circle, eyes narrowing slightly. "She said it didn't feel right anymore. She was right, obviously. She's always right. She's my best friend, and I'll always love her, but it's better like this." He runs a hand through his hair, it's hanging loose today and it looks extra fluffy, and part of me wants to touch it. How does everyone have good hair? My hair looks like shit. "She was always afraid of losing me. But when she didn't have me to lose anymore she sort of, levelled out." Beck pulls me out of my hair related thoughts.  
"So there's nothing going on between you now?" I ask, rubbing my palms against my jeans. Jade is still glaring at us as she snatches the tin opener out of Trina's hands.  
"No, why?" Beck sounds confused, looking up at Jade and then back to me.  
"Sometimes, when we're talking, me and you, she gives me these looks, like it's my first day at Hollywood Arts again and I'm rubbing you." My brow furrows.  
"I don't think that's anything to do with me, Tori. Besides, your sister would be pretty angry if I went back to Jade." He tells me casually.  
"You… and Trina? You're…. You're you and Trina?" I ask, eyebrows shooting up. "She didn't tell me!"  
"She's changed a lot, she's not really boy mad Trina anymore." Beck chuckles. "We're me and Trina. We have been for a while now. She's different. Good. I like her a lot… I guess I love her, actually."  
"Wow."  
"Wow what?" Jade appears beside me, handing me a can with a spoon sticking out of it before sitting down.  
"Beck was telling me about him and Trina. That no one told me about. Not even my own sister…" I trail off, looking across at my sister. She's definitely not the same person who'd make me do ridiculous things for her for no reason.  
"Oh yes, Beck's been a busy boy." Jade drags out the y, looking around me at Beck.  
"Okay, I'm gonna go over there now, and be over there." He stands up, walking over to Trina and wrapping an arm around her waist. She smiles and leans against him.  
"Awh." I coo.  
"Awh, indeed." Jade scowls.  
I stir the contents of my tin, beans with those tiny sausages, and take a bite before I look at Jade. We're sat far enough away that no one would hear our conversation.  
"What?" I ask, scooping up more beans.  
"What do you mean, 'what'?" She asks, looking down at her tin.  
"You're all weird. And not normal Jade weird. Different weird. What's the matter?" I ask her.  
She continues to stare down at her tin. "Nothing."  
I place my tin down on between my legs before I reach out, tilting her chin so she has to look at me. "Jade…" Her eyes look sad.  
"It's nothing, honestly."  
"It's not nothing! You're giving me those looks like you think I'm gonna steal Beck from you, which is impossible because he's not your boyfriend anymore, and now you won't talk to me. And you look sad."  
"You wanna know the truth? You'll probably hate me." She grumbles, pulling her head back. I drop my hand and pick up my tin again.  
"Yeah, I want the truth."  
"I'm not worried about you stealing Beck. I'm worried about Beck stealing you. And I know it's ridiculous because you're not mine either, and Beck is with Trina, and he loves Trina, but I've felt so alone for so long, and then turn up, and make me feel like someone wants me, and I… I don't wanna lose you…" She trails off, eyes still on her can.  
"Really?" I am surprised, and I don't know what to say, so that comes out instead.  
"Really. Look, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that… I get if you don't want to talk to me, really." She moves to stand up but I grab her wrist.  
"Don't." I pull her back down and she sits with a huff. "You won't lose me." I tell her. What I do next surprises me, and I know it surprises Jade by the way she flinches like I'm going to hit her. I ignore her and lean in, pressing my lips against her cheek. "I'm not going anywhere."

* * *

**Hey honey, how are you? Did you have a nice day at doing life? Good, good, sit down, take a load off.  
I don't know what I'm doing. **

**This is a short chapter, I know, but I didn't wanna leave you guys hanging, and I've got "*quinn fabray voice* big plans" for the next few chapters. Lots of stuff happening, lots of life being lived.  
Also, I'm gearing up to move soon, and I've got uni work to get done before I head back to education, so I'm gonna be uploading new chapters every Monday and Friday until I'm finished. Hopefully it'll give me time to work on my other fics as well. Which you should read, if they're finished, because I'm not very good at updating stuff. **

**So yeah, I will see you all on Friday, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I would be full of warm feelings in the tummy if you reviewed. **


	8. Eight

"Me, Andre, Beck and Carly will scout, Trina, you and Cat keep watch outside, if you see anything coming, get in the bus and drive." Jade's standing at the front of the bus, hands on her hips and face serious.  
We finally made it over to the new town and from the outskirts, it looks empty, a few mobs roaming, but a good few potential home sites. A few of the group are going to head into town to scout out locations and check the level of infection while Sikowitz tries to raise people on the radio, to see if there's some sort of community down in the town.  
Everyone heads out to do their thing, leaving me on the bus with Sikowitz, Spencer and Sam. They're still treating us as injuried, even though my ankle barely twinges now, and Sam's almost back up to speed. Spencer's a little different, he injured his back during the fight with that big… thing, and it's still hard for him to move around. He's still trying to help though, sitting next to Sikowitz with a thoughtful expression on his face. I can't hear what they're talking about, probably something to do with the radio. They've produced a new radio from somewhere, different from the ones we have in the cars to keep in touch.  
"I can't believe we're still benched." Sam plops down in the seat next to me. "We're not that injured."  
"Can you even hold a gun?" I tease her. She shrugs. "Exactly. You can't fight, I can't run, so we're pretty much useless. We'd just hold them back… And I don't think we can handle losing somebody else." I think back to Robbie, and the effect it's had on us, losing him. I mean, sure, he was useless, and I barely knew him, but Cat, she really loved him, and I know the rest of them did too.  
Jade's taking it the hardest, not that she'd let anyone know. We're still sharing a cot, and I feel her shaking, racked with silent tears, when she thinks I'm sleeping. I know I can't force her to talk about it, or anything for that matter, so I just wrap my arm around her, let her cry. I think it helps.  
"Well, I can't just sit here." Sam interrupts my thoughts, pulling herself up and then ragging me up after her. "Let's go see what's crackin' kid."  
When Sam approached me with the thought of becoming friends, I was a little sceptical, I'd watched iCarly, and she'd always just seemed… mean? I guess. I mean, she is mean, she always speaks without thinking and eats everyone elses food, but she's Sam. Being stuck on the bus for the past couple of days with mostly her and Spencer for company, I've gotten to know her. There's stuff you don't notice about her at first, like the way her brow furrows when she's worried about something she won't voice, or the way she hovers protectively near Carly if she's asleep and Sam's awake. I haven't asked about their friendship, even though I want to. They're so close, and it seems so private, like when you're watching them you're peaking on something you shouldn't see. They don't even talk half the time, just give each other certain looks and the other knows what they're thinking.  
Even when it was just me and Cat, we were never that in tune. Thinking of Cat, I feel like I've barely seen her since we took up with the group. Part of me feels like I'm losing her, which is ridiculous and incredibly selfish, but we spent every minute of every day together, and now I'm lucky if we get 10 minutes together alone. I miss her.

* * *

"How's your ankle?" I'm outside the bus now, and I've no idea where Sam's flitted off to, but Jades leaning against the side of the bus, cleaning a rifle. She's got her sunglasses pushed up onto her head, holding hair back from her face, though a few wisps have escaped.  
"It's good, almost. Barely hurts anymore." I smile, leaning up next to her. We fall into a comfortable silence, while she cleans. My eyes scan the group, watching as everyone packs and unpacks various things, checking bags and boxes for the right stuff. Trina's standing close to Beck, nodding as he talks about something, but she's got that glazed over look in her eyes she used to get when I talked about, well, anything. He's probably telling her something about the shotgun he's holding. Jade told me Beck's become the unofficial go to guy when it comes to guns, and that he knows more about them than anything else. She told me he used to be into fixing cars, but he got rusty, and then when he got in over his head, Lane and Sikowitz took over. And now I've sort of taken over.  
Sam reappears on the landscape, walking with Carly and Gibby and talking about something animatedly, arms flailing around wildly. I smile, watching her laugh. She doesn't smile so much these days, according to everyone else in the group, so it's good to see her happy.

* * *

"We're packed up." Beck stands in front of us, blocking out the sun, with one of my smokes hanging from his mouth. At first, I was all in the spirit of sharing, but Jade, Sam and Beck have practically smoked all my supplies in a few days. "You ready?" He asks Jade.  
"Yeah, just gimme a minute?" She hands him her rifle and he nods, heading back to the car.  
"You gonna be okay with us all gone?" She asks quietly, not looking at me. I immediately realise she's asking if I'm okay with her going, and not the rest of the group.  
I bend down, looking up at her under the curtain of hair that's fallen around her face. "I'll be fine." I grin.  
"You're such a goof." She laughs, lifting her head. "Are you sure?"  
"I'm sure," I smile softly. "Just… just be careful, okay? For… for safety." I pause on the last words, wincing internally. _'For safety'_? Really? I couldn't think of something better to stick in there. I'd so desperately wanted to say for me, but something caught in my chest, and I couldn't do it.  
"I'll be careful. For safety." She smiles at me again and reaches out, squeezing my hand before she walks over to my truck, which has become the official scouting vehicle after we lost the other car.  
I stand by the bus, watching them climb in a drive off, and fighting the urge not to run after the car, begging for them to come back. I don't know what's wrong with me.

* * *

"Hey pretty lady." Cat practically materialises beside me, making me jump.  
"Hey." I smile, running a hand through my hair.  
"You wanna come walk with me?" She asks, holding out her hand. She can tell something's wrong with me, the same way she's always been able too, and she probably senses that I need to talk, so I take her hand and we wander off to circle the perimeter.  
We do one loop before I speak. "I miss you." I tell her, still holding her hand. "I feel like we never see each other anymore."  
"But we just spent days locked in a bus together." Her eyes are carefully scanning the surroundings, but the landscape is so dry and flat we'd see anything coming a mile off.  
"You know what I mean. It was just us for so long. And now it's us, and everyone else, and that's a great thing, it's amazing, but it's… I don't know, I'm being stupid."  
"No, I get it. I miss you too. When we've found a new house and settled down, we'll make more time for each other, I promise. I just got so caught up in seeing my friends again, I guess I didn't know how to deal with all of it at once." She looks at me over her sunglasses, smiling. "That's not what's wrong though."  
I squint into the sun, wishing I'd had the foresight to bring my own sunglasses from the bus when Sam dragged me out earlier. "It's not, no. I'm… I don't know, how I feel. About anything, my head is so muddled and… and…" I stop, throwing my arms down in the manner of a child sulking. "What's wrong with me? I never get like this about anything, I'm the clearheaded one!"  
Cat stops, turning to look at me. "What do you know?" She asks.  
"I know that I feel safe here. And I know that despite what's happened, things are gonna work out for the best. I know that I'm glad that I've made new friends." I start walking again. "I'm glad you're still here with me, and I've got Trina back." I pause. "I… I know that I'm happier when Jade's here."  
Cat nods, walking in step with me. "What else do you know about Jade? And you?"  
"I know I feel safer when she's asleep next to me, and that she's not the person that I thought she was. I definitely know she's full of surprises. That she's… She's good. She's so… good? Does that make sense?" I pause and look at Cat but she does nothing to prompt me. "I know that she's not always as strong as she'd like to be. But when she feels vulnerable, she's more honest. I know that she's beautiful…" I trail off, looking down at my feet.  
"Have you ever considered the fact that you might have a crush on Jade?" Cat nudges gently.  
"I've considered it pretty much non-stop of the past four days. I'm straight! I like men, I don't like girls! I definitely don't like Jade… She poured coffee on my head!"  
"That was a different Jade… And I don't think you're straight."  
We make another loop of our makeshift camp ground before I speak again.  
"What do you mean, you don't think I'm straight?"  
"You never look at guys, not even in pictures, your eyes always stray to the girls first. We've met people on our travels, and not once have you even shown a remote bit of interest in any of the guys we've met. There was that girl in Chicago, when we were leaving you even told her to come with us." I try and interrupt but she carries on talking. "I've seen the way you look at Jade, when you think no one else is looking. You look like… Like how Beck looks at Trina. I see the way your mouth turns up ever so slightly when she smiles or laughs. I saw you saying goodbye to her today."  
"So maybe I do have a crush on Jade, so what? She won't be interested in me, and even on the off chance she was, it's the middle of the end of the world, now's not the time."  
Cat takes my hand again, squeezing it. "That's why it's exactly the time."  
I shake my head, but don't let go of her hand. We loop around again.  
"Cat?" I speak, breaking the silence that's fallen between us.  
"Yeah?"  
"I love you."  
She smiles. "I love you too."

* * *

I miss burgers. And fries. And cheesecake. Anything that's not out of a tin or freeze dried. I lift up a spoonful of beans and watch them drop back into the tin. Everything is beans these days. More and more of the tins we open have gone rotten. Beans last a lot longer. Or so I've been told. I think that maybe what's left of the universe is conspiring against me. I fucking hate beans. And we can't spare the water for the freeze dried stuff. I sigh and plop my spoon back into the tin.  
"Beans again?" I look up and see Sam standing next to me, smirking.  
"Yep. I'd kill a guy for a piece of cake. Well, I don't know about that, because there's not a lot of guys left to kill. Maybe maim?" I wave my tin around.  
"I'd give you my food but I already ate it." Sam grins before nodding at my tin. "You gonna finish that?"  
"Jade will kill you."  
"Jade's not here." Another grin, and she lifts the tin from my hand. "I'm so bored. I mean, I've done my fair share of sitting around, hiding and looking out and shit, but you never get used to it. I have too much energy. Freddie used to clear spaces for me to run around in."  
"You never talk about him." She looks at me, puzzled. "Freddie, I mean."  
"Yeah, I guess I don't. At least not with anyone that isn't Carly." She sighs. "I bet Trina or Jade told you not to ask me about him, yeah? Told you I'd flip out." I nod. "I used too. The first time Jade asked me about him, I nearly ripped her head off." She pulls a knee up to her chest, wraps an arm around it. "He was our friend. For a while, him and Carly were, they were a thing. As much as a thing as you can get when the entire world is falling to shit around you... She loved him, is what I'm getting at, I think. He loved her too, more than anyone." She pauses, then sighs. "He was one of my best friends, I loved him too, but not like that. I gave him so much shit over the years, made fun of him for the pettiest things." She chuckles. "I made so many jokes about him not having the balls to do stuff… Not having the balls to ask out Carly, to fight the zeds, fight me." I raise my eyebrow in question. "Don't ask." She shifts slightly, wrapping her arm tighter around herself. "It's kind of ironic that he saved us in the end. After all the shit I gave him about being a pussy. I remember it all, every single second, like I've got photographic memory for that on specific event. Two sentences, and he was gone. He told Carly he'd always love her, then told me to look after her, look after them." She nods to Spencer and Gibby who are playing an old fold-away travel game at the back of the bus. I vaguely recognise it as something from the truck me and Cat used to use to pass the time. "Then he was gone. He saved our lives, and we never got to say goodbye. Or thank you."  
Sam sighs, swiping at her face when a stray tear leaks out, then shifts, putting her foot back down on the ground. "Carly won't talk about it… what happened... and I can't talk about it with those two. It's not that I don't love them, it's just… it's different. Then again, you're different. Everything has changed since you showed up, for the better, for the most part. You made things better, and more interesting. It was so fucking boring sitting up in that old house, day after day, listening to Gibby try and name yellow foods. You're… you're good, is what I'm getting at. Good for us. Good for me. Good for Jade, especially." She wiggles her eyebrows and I groan. "I'm glad you're here, kid."  
"I'm glad I'm here too." I smile, then rest my head on her arm.  
"Don't tell anyone I let you do that, or I'll have to kill you." She grumbles, but doesn't move to shrug me off.  
"Deal."

* * *

"We're clearing the last block now. Found the perfect house for us, I think." Jade's voice crackles over the radio. "Manage to raise anyone on the other radio?"  
"No." Sikowitz answers her, sulking. "Town must be empty."  
"Alright. You guys wanna pack up and head into town? We're gonna circle round to this house and then head back to the new place. You'll know it when you see it, tall stone fences, barbed wire, old brick house. It's big, and it's empty, we've been in and checked. And it's got a big thick gate with a working engine."  
"Yeah, we can do that, not like we're doing anything anyway. It'd be nice to get settled before it gets dark. Is there parking space on site?"  
"Yeah…" Jade starts to tell Sikowitz various things about the house, so I head outside to pack up the last of our stuff and tell the people gathered around a small fire, eating. After my bean fiasco earlier, I couldn't bring myself to eat, so I'd sat in the bus with Sikowitz.  
"Alright guys." I announce as I approach the semi-circle. "We're packing up. Jade wants us to head into town and set up at the new house while the finish up clearing out the surrounding area. So, u know, put out the fire and get your butts onto that bus!"

* * *

It took longer than it should've to get packed up, mostly because Gibby had insisted on bringing a "plant" for the new house. The plant turned out to be a weed, but he'd still brought it onto the bus, using an old can as it's pot. He'd told them it'd add colour, make their new home feel like home, and no one had had it in them to argue with him. Maybe I'll find a new plant and replace it when he's not looking. It's not like he'd notice.

* * *

"Alright, we ready to move out?" Lane shouts down the bus. We all yell variations of an agreement and the bus purrs to life, pulling almost silently off our makeshift campsite and heading into town. I've done a good job on the engine, sounds almost new.  
Today feels new, in a way. Like everything is finally coming together. New friendships, reaffirming old friendships, even a new place to stay. I smile softly to myself. It's good… things are good.  
Until the radio crackles again.  
"How far out from the house are you?" It's Andre's voice that blares out of the speaker, and he sounds concerned.  
"We'll be there in about ten, why?" Sikowitz answers, gripping the railing of the bus slightly as Lane takes a corner.  
"Fuck!" Andre exclaims, "It's Jade. She's hurt, man. I mean, bad, you've gotta hurry."

Fuck, indeed.

* * *

**Hey sexy mama, wanna kill all humans? No? Okay ):  
This chapters a bit filler-y, but it's mostly filler and explaining some stuff so it's okay. I think.  
Next chapter will be A++++++ I promise.  
Anyway, as always, I hope you enjoyed it, and I would super love it if you reviewed.**


	9. Nine

By the time we've reached the house, the scouting team has already arrived, and I run off the bus clutching a bag filled with medical supplies.  
"What the fuck happened?" I burst into the dining room of the house where they've laid Jade out on the table. Andre has a hand over a wound in her stomach, trying to stem the blood flowing from the wound.  
"We were checking out the last house, thought it was empty. I let my guard down for a minute and a walker bursts out of a closet. Jade, she pushed me out of the way, the zed grabbed her and forced her back, and then she was gone, over the railing. She landed on a table. It was glass." Andre is pale, and I can see that his hands are shaking.  
"Move, now." I shove him out of the way, setting the bag down next to Jade on the table. "Go get Cat, now. Tell her to grab our medkit from the car." I'm yelling at him even though it's not his fault and he scutters out of the room. In the back of my head, I feel bad, but I can't concentrate on that now.  
Jade's hand grasps at my arm, making me jump. I had thought she was unconscious. "Tori?" She mumbles, fingers flexing weakly against my bicep.  
I stand, leaning over her and touching her face softly. "It's okay Jade, I'm here, I've got you." I whisper.  
Cat runs into the room a second later, eyes wide and clutching our battered old medkit.  
"This is gonna hurt. I'm sorry, and I'll try and be as fast as I can, but I need to check to see if there's more glass in the wound." I tell her gently, and she nods in reply.  
"Beck?" I call out, knowing he'll be standing nearby.  
His head pops around the doorframe. "Yeah?"  
"I need your help."  
He enters the room, rubbing the palms of his hands against his jeans. There's a large blood stain on his shirt. "What do you need?"  
"I need you to hold Jade down." He opens his mouth to protest but I cut him off. "If she moves while I'm doing this, she could make it a hundred times worse. She could die." He still looks unsure, eyeing Jade like she's going to rip his head off for touching her. "Please?"  
He sighs. "Alright, alright. When she comes round and rips my head off for manhandling her, I'm sending her to you."  
"Deal, now get in here."  
Beck enters the room properly, walking around to the top of the table. He mumbles an apology to Jade before putting his hands onto her shoulder, pressing down lightly. Cat frowns slightly but rounds the table, standing next to me.  
"Remember when we were in Seattle and that guy shot me in the leg, we had to pull out the shrapnel because he'd made his own bullets?" Cat nods. "It's just like that, okay?"  
"Any wounds on her back?" I ask Beck, looking up at him. He looks pale.  
"No, she landed on her side, that's the only deep one. We checked before we lay her down."  
"Alright." I let out a shaky breath, then pull up t-shirt that's been used to stem the blood flow. The cut isn't too big, about 3 inches along, but it looks pretty deep. "Cat?" She hums an acknowledgement. "I need some light, you got that little torch?" She pulls the torch in question out of the box and shows me. "Shine it here?" I point to the wound before I reach into the little box on the table, pulling out a pair of tweezers and some disinfectant. I poor some on my hands, working it into my skin and trying to make them as sterile as possible before pouring it on the tweezers. Then I grab a packet of gauze from the other bag and tear it open before soaking it in the disinfectant. I can do this. I take a deep breath before I press it to the wound, cleaning up the outside. Jade hisses and bucks a little, but Beck keeps her pretty still.  
"Sorry." I mumble, wiping away the last of the blood. I pick up the tweezers and using my free hand, pry apart the wound. Jade grunts this time, trying to roll, but Cat moves quickly, sitting atop her legs on the table. "Thanks." I smile at her as she readjusts the torch to give me the best light.

* * *

I spend what feels like forever checking Jade's wounds for extra glass. I pull out a few pieces and when I'm sure there's nothing left, I carefully stitch up the cuts.

Jade stopped trying to move a while ago, which means she either passed out or…. Well, she's passed out.  
When I'm finished I soak another wad of gauze in disinfectant and wipe carefully over where I've been working.  
"Beck?" I look up at him briefly. His eyes are on the other side of the room and he's not really paying attention to me. "Beck?" I try again, then smile when his eyes focus on my face. "You can let go now." He looks down, letting out a long sigh and carefully lets go of her shoulders.  
"If she has any bruises there, that wasn't me." He tells me. "Give me a shout when you're ready to move her, I'll get Trina to set up a bedroom for her." He wanders off.  
"Beck's being weird." Cat tells me, sliding down off the table.  
"It's Jade. Of course he's being weird. Everyone is." I finish carefully cleaning the last cut on her side and put the gauze down, picking up some bandages and tape. "Go help Trina with Jade's room? The sooner she's on something more comfortable than this table, the better." Cat nods and hurries off to help Trina, leaving me alone with Jade.  
I stand up properly, giving Jade a once over with my eyes to check for anything I've missed. She's got a small cut above her eyebrow so I grab a new piece of gauze, douse it lightly and lean over her, carefully wiping at the cut. It's small, small enough to not need stitches, so I clean it up then grab a Band-Aid, covering it carefully.  
I'm moving back when Jade's eyes flutter open.  
"Tori?" She mumbles, eyes squinting to focus on me. "Are you done butchering me?" Her face is completely devoid of any emotion but I can hear the joke in her voice.  
"Yeah, just about…" I pick up the discarded bloody gauze and throw it into a plastic bag under the table. Cat must've put it there for cleaning up. She always remembers the little stuff. "I guess you know not to go throwing yourself onto glass tables in the future."  
"Ha ha." She deadpans, then moves to pull herself up into a sitting position.  
"Whoa." I step back toward her, pushing down on her shoulder lightly. "Where do you think you're going?"  
"I need to go and…" She starts, trying to move again, but I push her down.  
"No, what you need to do is stay there and not move about, you're going to ruin all my work."  
"I just want to…" I push down more firmly on her shoulder. "Tori…" I can tell she's getting angry.  
"No. No Jade. Stay the fuck down." Her eyes widen a little when I swear. "You could've died! I… We could've lost you. We need you, and we need you well... I… I need you. So don't you dare think about moving even an inch."  
Jade lies back down and lets out a soft sigh before turning her head to look at me. "You need me, huh?" She grins a little.  
"Shut up." I try and sound angry but I smile as well. I try to carry on cleaning, but her hand grabs my arm as I pass the table. Her grip is stronger than before, which is a good sign.  
"Why do you need me?" She's not smiling now, but her eyes are soft.  
I sigh, leaning against the table, facing away from her. "You're… you're infuriating, you know. You turn up in my life, try and kill me in a grocery store and all of a sudden, it's like I can't breathe if you're not here." I pause, trying to collect myself. "Do you have any idea how I felt when that call came over the radio? I was so… worried doesn't even seem to do it justice. I was angry. Furious, even, that you'd let yourself get hurt and leave me here without you. You're so… so you! That's the thing, there's no one like you. I hate you so much, for making me feel like this. But when you're near me, I feel happier. And safe. Even now, when you can barely move and I've spent god knows how long trying to stitch you back together. I need you here, near me. I…" I trail off, running out of wind. That wasn't exactly how I planned to tell Jade that I had a huge crush on her.  
"Tori?" Jade is quiet. Too quiet for Jade. "Look at me, please?"  
I turn slowly, sure she's going to tell me to get a grip, move on from this stupid thing. That we're good friends and nothing more.  
"I like you too." She tells me when I finally lock eyes with her. "I was so happy to see you, when you got here." She reaches out for me again, taking my hand. "I'm tired."  
"Get some rest. Beck should be back to take you to your room soon." I smile, squeezing her hand slightly.  
"Okay. Night Tori." She mumbles, then her eyes flutter closed.

* * *

"What're you doing?" I start at the sound of the voice, and when I look up Sam is leaning in the door of the dining room.  
Whoever had left the house before us had left it pretty much intact, and I don't think that anyone has been inside it since because the kitchen was full of cleaning supplies, old tins, stuff we actually needed.  
I've been using the cleaning supplies to try and clean up the blood on the table and floor for the past half an hour. There was a lot of blood. Like, an alarming amount, and I keep getting distracted by what ifs. Jade really could've died today, and the thought alone is enough to derail whatever I'm doing.  
"Cleaning." I tell Sam, starting to scrub at the table again. I've never cleaned up blood before, it's thicker than it looks and if you don't clean a small space at a time you just end up rubbing it everywhere.  
"You need a hand?" Sam never helps clean. She hates it. I must look pretty frantic if she's offering. I shrug and she rounds the table, plucking a sponge out of a bucket.  
We don't talk, just clean. Well, Sam cleans. I scrub at the same part of the table, wondering how Jade is. I couldn't bring myself to go upstairs and sit with her. I'd probably keep waking her up to check she's still alive and she needs the rest. I'm trying to keep my mind off pretty much anything and it's doing the exact opposite.  
"Kid?" Sam stills my hands, forcing me to stop wearing down the table. "Tori?"  
"She nearly died." I don't take my eyes off the table. "She could've… I don't…" I don't even try to say anything else, I just let go of the sponge. I can feel tears pooling in my eyes, and a huge part of me wants to run, get away from anyone and sort my feelings out but I can't move. I feel frozen.  
Surprisingly, Sam doesn't leave either. I know she's not a fan of big displays of emotion but she stays right next to me.  
I'm not sure how I end up sobbing into her shoulder but she keeps a tight grip on me, whispers that it's okay in my ear, holds me until I regain composure.  
"Go." She tells me when I pull back from her. I raise an eyebrow in confusion. "You're just gonna stand there thinking about her. You might as well go sit with her."  
"But I need to clean up." It's a lame excuse, I know. Sam knows as well because she rolls her eyes.  
"If you don't leave now I'll have to beat you with my butter sock." She tells me, hand on her hip.  
"Butter sock?" I am confused.  
"A sock full of butte, which is gross enough, but imagine how long it's been in there now." My face crumples in disgust. "That's what I thought, now get out of here."

* * *

I trudge up the stairs slowly, even though I want to run. I feel weary. It's getting late, and I'm tired, and today has been so exhausting I just want to curl up in a ball and get away from the world.  
I push the door to Jade's room open slowly, and I'm surprised to find her sitting, propped up by pillows, and reading a book.  
She puts it down when she notices me. "Hey."  
"Hey… Can I come in?" I ask, looking down at my feet.  
"I suppose." I don't look at her but I can tell she's smiling.  
I enter the room and perch myself on the end of the bed. "What're you reading?"  
"Are we really going to do this?" She asks instead of answering, running a hand through her hair.  
"Do what?" I reply, confused. I've been confused a lot today.  
"Make stupid small talk, pretend we didn't say what we said earlier. Because I don't want to do that. You got to say your piece, and I'm gonna say mine." The book thumps down next to me on the bed. "Look at me, Tori." I look up, straight into her eyes and she looks angry. There's something else underlying that I can't quite make out, but for the most part, she looks angry. "I nearly died. I get that, more than you think." I try and interrupt her but she stops me. "I'm talking." She sighs. "I nearly died. I've spent most of my life with these people. They're my family, my best friends. But then I nearly died, and all I could think about was you. Stupid, perfect, little miss sunshine Tori. I don't know what this is. Or what you want it to be, but I need you too. And I don't wanna pretend we didn't say what we've said, or try and go back to just being friends, because I can't. I can't be your friend." She stops talking, still looking at me. "Say something."  
I don't know what to say. That was… Well, it was everything I was hoping to hear. But she doesn't know that.  
I push a hand through my hair then shift so I'm leaning over her. She looks up at me, and I'm close enough to feel her breath against my face. Her eyes are the lightest shade of blue I've ever seen, I've never really looked at them before. Not this close, anyway.  
"Tori?" Jade questions again, but instead of replying I move forward, pressing my lips to hers. She freezes for a second before kissing me back. Her lips are soft, and it's tentative, but the butterflies in my stomach are going wild. It's perfect. She's perfect.

* * *

**This sucks the most, I know. I'm so bad, I've had the shittiest weekend and I've been so busy that I've not had time to write properly. **

**Friday's chapter will be brilliant. I am lying, it will like it normally is but longer. LOVE YOU GUYS.  
I hope you enjoy it even though it's bad, and please review, and I will see your butts on friday.**


	10. Ten

Sunlight streams through a crack in the curtains, bathing my face and causing me to roll over in annoyance. Well, I try to roll over, except there's something very solid, and warm, behind me. I wiggle forward slightly before rolling again and coming face to face with Jade. She's still sleeping, arm slung over my side.  
"Are you staring at me for a reason?" She cracks an eye open, squinting in the sunlight.  
"Do I need a reason?" I ask, leaning forward to kiss her forehead softly. It's been a few days since we spoke about our feelings, and we've just been… well if the world hadn't gone to shit I'd say we were dating. Taking it slow. Like we're teenagers again, except this time she doesn't want to pour coffee on my head.  
I stretch, sitting up and swinging my legs over the edge of the bed. Jade wiggles forward behind me, curling around me and hugging me.  
"You slept in here. You don't sleep in here." There's question in her voice.  
"I know, I was so tired last night I guess I just passed out." We'd spent all day cleaning out old rooms. Whoever lived here before us had a ton of crap, which reminds me of something I found yesterday. "What do you miss most? From before all this?" I ask Jade, twisting slightly to look at her.  
"I don't know, why?" She counters.  
"I just wanna know, can't I ask you things?"  
"I suppose…" She pauses for a minute, thinking. "I miss ice cream… and singing stupid songs in the car with Cat. Singing in general… I guess I just miss music. I used to have this guitar, Indian Rosewood, custom strings. It was like my child, I used it more than any other instrument. Couldn't even play another guitar, didn't feel the same. Now though, now I'd play anything. I'd even play a ukulele with a missing string." She smiles and presses her face against my arm. "Good enough answer?"  
I stand in reply, stretching again before I grin at her. "That was the perfect answer." I move towards the door and open it, looking out into the hall. "We were cleaning yesterday, checking out the other rooms of the house, making room for more beds and stuff, and I found this." I reach out and pull the object into the room. "It's not Indian Rosewood, and it's seen better days, but it's playable."  
Jade pushes herself up off the bed gently, crossing over to me. She takes the guitar by the neck and holds it out to look at it, then she sits back down on the bed and strums.  
"It's out of tune." She says absent-mindedly. She strums a few more time, turning the machine heads to get the instrument back into tune. "I can't believe this was just sitting here." She strums again then plays a few chords. "Can you play?" She asks me.  
"No." I shake my head. "I can play piano a little bit, but nothing too fancy."  
"Sit down." She tells me, then passes me the guitar.

* * *

We must spend an hour messing around, Jade trying to teach me to play something simple. She's trying to teach me Smoke on Water, but I'm not very good.  
"How are you this bad?" She asks me, laughing when I play the wrong note again. "You can fix a car like it's nothing, you obviously can use your hands."  
"This is hard!" She laughs again. "Don't mock me." I frown.  
Someone knocks on the door, interrupting us.  
"Yeah?" Jade yells, and Cat opens the door, popping her head into the gap.  
"We've just found some cool stuff. And also, it's dinner time." Her head disappears again.  
"Better go downstairs then." I smile, placing the guitar gently next to Jade's bed and standing up. I hold my hand out. "Come on."

* * *

Jade's a bit slow, still recovering from her injuries, so she hobbles down the stairs. I bound down in front of her and turn around.  
"You look like an excited puppy." She laughs, gripping the banister for support.  
"Last time we found something cool it was your new guitar," I grin. "It might be an entire band… Or secret chocolate."  
"It's not chocolate." Beck passes us on his way outside, cigarette in mouth.  
"Is that mine?" I ask, pointing.  
"Yep." He smirks at me. "But don't worry. There's a shop in town that's practically pristine. Sikowitz reckons this is a town that actually got evac'd, we're gonna head in later. I will reimburse you."  
He heads out of the front door and we walk into the kitchen to find Cat. She's standing in the back garden of the house, looking at a shed with her hands on her hips.  
"What's going on?" Jade asks as we get outside. She looks a bit unsteady on her feet so I wrap an arm around her waist.  
Sikowitz pops his head out of the shed, then shoves an armful of boxes at Cat. "We've hit the jackpot girls." He's grinning. Cat shows us the boxes.  
"It's dried food, like the stuff they use in the army. The shed's full of it. It's like whoever lived here was planning for it, it doesn't make sense." He brow crinkles. "When we moved in there was dust on everything, like the house had been empty for years. The pipes were dried out, weeds were in the house. I don't get it."  
"It was probably one of those survivalists." She sighs and leans against me. "You know, those idiots that think they're prepared for this, then it turns out they're not and they run at the first sign of trouble."  
"There's seeds too." Lane appears from the shed clutching a few small bags. "Since we've still got running water, and the plant-life doesn't seem to be affected by whatever's going on, I think we can start growing vegetables."  
Andre emerges behind him, holding an armful of gardening tools. "My grandma used to grow stuff. You know, before she went crazy. I know a thing or two."  
"Ah, you're finally useful." Jade grins at him.  
She's been in a better mood the past few days, despite the mortal wounding. Cat think's it's because of me, but I just think she's happy we're settled again. Either way, I don't mind.

* * *

"Hey, Tori?" I twist my head around to look at the door, where Beck is leaning. "You wanna come on our supply run?"  
I look at Jade in silent questioning, causing her to smirk and nod her head. "Get out of here, I know you're dying to explore."  
"Okay, bye!" I lean forward and kiss her on the cheek before darting into the house to get my things.  
When I bound down the front steps of the house a few minutes later, Cat, Beck and Gibby are waiting for me.  
"Hey girlie." Cat smiles when I reach the bottom of the stairs. "You ready?"  
"I sure am. Are we walking?" I ask, wrapping an arm around Cat's shoulders.  
"Yeah, it's not too far away." Beck interjects, starting to stride off.  
"He's not had a smoke in a whole 20 minutes." Gibby laughs, taking off after him.  
I pull my last packet from my pocket, looking into it. Two left. "Well, Beck, today's your lucky day." I pull one from the packet then throw it to him. "Don't say I never gave you nothing."  
"You, Tori Vega, are my hero."

* * *

The entire walk is spent messing around, chatting and just enjoying each other's company. The weather is warm enough that I take off my shirt, wrapping it around my waist and letting the sun warm my shoulders.  
Cat bounces around inbetween us all, eating bibble from her pocket. I don't know where she keeps getting it from, but I have a feeling Jade's been giving it to her to keep her quiet. We'll have to have words. Still, even with Cat on a sugar rush and Gibby being… well, Gibby, it's nice.

* * *

By the time we've reached the shop I'm actually sweating. Gibby's taken his shirt off, but then again, that's not such a rare occurrence. He slips it back over his head as we reach the door, mumbling something that sounds like "goodbye freedom".  
The bell over the door lets out a feeble ring when Beck slides the door open, but thankfully the shop is empty. Beck heads straight for the back of the shop to look for cigarettes while the rest of us fan out, looking for other stuff we can use. The shops bigger than I thought it would be, so we're pretty far apart, and mostly hidden by the shelves.  
Gibby finds a few tins of beans that are still in date, much to my chagrin, and Cat gathers up cleaning supplies since we used most of what was in the house cleaning up the blood from Jade's accident.  
There's an errant thought in the back of my mind that cleaning at a time like this seems kind of silly. If you saw people cleaning the floors in a horror movie, you'd probably turn it off for being boring. It's important though. Trina had explained to me once that the cleaner stuff is, the less chance of becoming infected, either by the virus or an actual infection, is. Antibiotics are scarce these days, so no one can afford to get really sick. It had made a lot more sense when she'd explained it.  
I'm about to head back to the front of the store when a shelf catches my eye. Seeds. Like, a lot of them. There's even a bag of lumps that claims to be how you grow potatoes. Thinking of Andre's new garden I shove a few packets into my bag. I'd take them all but there's a large chance the next time we need seeds they'd probably still be here.

* * *

I'm picking up my bag when the shop bell rings again. I don't think anything of it, assuming it's Beck going outside for a smoke, until I look up and come face to face with Beck.  
"You didn't go outside?" I ask, brow furrowed.  
"No, I thought you did." He holds out a packet of cigarettes.  
I take it from him and shove it in my pocket. "Must've been Gibby." I muse and Beck nods in agreement.  
I slide my bag onto my shoulders, and I'm adjusting a twisted strap when there's a gasp, followed by a loud boom. It takes me a second to realise it's someone firing a shotgun. I lock eyes with Beck, asking a silent question, and he shakes his head no, no one brought a shotgun with them.

* * *

We round the shelves to where the noise has come from and it feels like time's slowed down. I see Cat standing, bent over slightly, and a guy I haven't seen before clutching a gun, a look of absolute horror on his face.  
Cat straightens up and turns towards us, and for a second I think it's okay, until I see her hands clutching at her stomach, blood pouring through.  
It's like trying to run through wet sand, I'm moving but it doesn't feel fast enough and I don't reach Cat before she slumps forward, hitting the floor. Out of the corner of my eye I see Beck lung forward and grab the guy but I can't take my eyes off Cat.  
I kneel down next to her, rolling her over.  
"Tori?" She mutters, "I'm shot. I got shot."  
"It's okay. You'll be okay." I unwrap the shirt from round my waist, folding it and pressing it against her stomach. "It's nothing. I can fix you up easily." The blood passes through the shirt easily, soaking my hands. "Gibby, radio home now. We need to get her back." I press harder, to no avail. She's bleeding too much, too fast.  
"Tori?" Cat's hand is on my arm. "It's okay…"  
I don't let her finish. "No, I can fix this. We've fixed gunshots before. I fixed Jade. You'll be okay. I just need to get you home." I let out a shaky breath. "Gibby did you radio home?"  
Gibby's fumbling with the walkie talkie in his hand. "I think the batteries are dead."  
"No, no they can't be. You didn't change them?!" I yell. I'm shaking. "Run home, now!"  
"Tori…" Cat tries again. "Stop it."  
"We can do this… I can't lose you, not now." I try and swallow the lump in my throat. It feels like I'm choking.  
"Look after Jade. She needs you. She'll need you even more now. And don't smoke too much." She gasps, scrunching her eyes shut before she continues. "Don't blame yourself… You saved me, you saved me in every way you could've." She coughs, blood speckling her lips. "I... I lo…" She trails off, her eyes unfocusing and her head lolling to one side. The blood coming from her abdomen becomes a trickle instead of a steady stream.  
"Cat?" I croak out. "Cat, wake up." I shake her shoulders slightly. "You do not get to die… Wake up!" I practically scream, shaking her more roughly.  
"Tori, stop." Gibby grabs my shoulders. I freeze, looking down at the lifeless body of my best friend. This can't be happening. It's a dream. I can't move. I see Beck pinning the stranger to the wall, his mouth moving, but I don't hear the words. Gibby stands behind me, hands still on my shoulder. I don't know how long I sit like then until Beck crouches down in front of me.  
"Tori?" His voice is soft, but raw, like he's been crying. I don't look up. "We need to go home." He pauses slightly as his voice breaks. "We need to take Cat home." His hands shift to move her, which causes me to snap my head up.  
"Don't touch her." I sound angry. "Don't you dare…"  
I move into a crouch then slip my hands underneath Cat, lifting her up to my chest. She's light enough that it's little effort to carry her. The morbid thought that maybe she's lighter because most of her blood is splashed across the floor and my clothes flits through my mind.  
I straighten up, heading toward the door without looking around. I can't do anything but concentrate on walking. My arms shake slightly under the weight of the body but I don't let it distract me, trudging onward.  
Gibby and Beck fall into step behind me. The walk to the house feels so long, like every step is another nail in the coffin. It's killing me, but at the same time I don't want the walk to end. Taking her home makes it so final. We'll clean up the body, bury her in the garden. We'll talk about how good she was, how she was so much better than the rest of us. We'll have a wake, get drunk off old bottles of whiskey and tell stories.

* * *

When we reach the house, Beck shoots up the stairs before me and opens the door, holding it open.  
"You guys are took so long, where have you…" Trina's standing in the door to the living room and when she sees me, she stops talking. "What… What happened?" She moves towards me but I brush past her, down the hall and into the kitchen, where Carly and Sam are sitting at the table.  
"Move." I tell them, my voice monotone. Sam looks up in confusion then registers what's happening, shooting up and pulling Carly out of the way.  
I lay Cat very carefully on the table, then look down at her. "Get out." I say, speaking to the room. Sam and Carly leave quickly, and Trina backs away from the door, closing it softly behind her.  
I sit down in the chair next to Cat's head, stare at her face. I always heard people say that dead people look like they're sleeping, but she doesn't. Her face is pale, too pale for her skin tone, and her eyes look dark, sunken in. She looks… dead.  
It's quiet for a few minutes before there's a scuffle outside the door, and muffled shouting. The door thumps open, and Jade stands in the gap it leaves, face disbelieving. I don't look up, and she doesn't speak. She moves around the table, standing behind me. She doesn't touch me, although I feel her gaze flit to me before it rests on Cat's face. I hear the door click closed again.  
"That's my favourite shirt." I point to the shirt I'd used to try and stem the bleeding earlier. "We were in New Mexico, and we drove past this store, Cat made us stop. She'd been complaining for days about how she needed new clothes, so we go in, and she's like a kid in a candy store. I keep telling her that we can't take all this stuff with us, but she keeps picking stuff up anyway. Then she pulls that shirt out of a rack and holds it up to me. 'This is perfect for you.' She tells me. She's right, obviously. I take off my jacket and slip it on, and I don't think I took it off for a month after. She picked me up one in a different colour but it wasn't the same." I laugh bitterly. "It's ruined now too. Everything's ruined. We were okay, alone. We were happy, for the most part. We were alive. And then we found you. Or you found us, whatever. And now she's gone. It's ridiculous, if she hadn't have kicked that can, you wouldn't have even seen us until it was too late."  
"Tori…" Jade's voice is thick, she's crying.  
"For seven years, I had nothing but Cat and my car." I stand up, my chair scrapes backwards, hitting Jade's legs. "She was everything. My family, my best friend. My reason for being alive. How am I even supposed to…" I grip the edge of the table. "What am I supposed to do now? I… I can't… How…" I fall forward, crumpling into a heap on the floor. Jade shoots to my side, wrapping her arms around me. I dig my fingers into the skin on her arms, clutching desperately, trying to hold on to anything to keep my afloat.  
But I'm sinking.

* * *

**I am late, I apologize profoundly. I wish I had an excuse but I started playing Dead Rising 2 and got well caught up in that. These free games are gonna be the end of me man.  
Anyway, do you hate this chapter? I hate myself for writing it, but shit's getting real. I'm gonna try and wrap this story in the next few chapters, maybe write a few little prequels and maybe an epilogue story? Let me know what you think. I'll make sure the chapters that are left are 3000+ words though.  
As always, I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter, and please review, it keeps my soul alight. **

**BYE.**


	11. Eleven

"Tori?" I look up from the fabric in my hands and see Trina standing in the doorway. "It's time."  
It's weird, it's been seven years and I've seen countless people die. My parents, temporary friends, even complete strangers. I've never buried anyone though. It still doesn't feel real. I sigh, nodding then lift the t-shirt to my face.  
It still smells like her. Not surprising, considering her it was her favourite. It says Uncle Female on it, and she always used to giggle when she wore it. She found it while we were in Seattle, in a box filled with shirts with stupid stuff wrote on it. She made me take on that said Purple Jerk. I never wore it, and I think it's shoved in the back of our car somewhere. My car, now.  
I stand up, dropping the t-shirt onto the bed and joining Trina at the door. She brushes down my t-shirt then smiles at me. "You gonna be okay?"  
I sigh and drop my head onto her shoulder. "No." She rubs my back. "But I don't have a choice, do I?"  
She grips my shoulders, pulling back to look at me. "Just don't push us away, yeah?" I nod. "I love you."  
"I love you, too." I reach out for her hand. "Come on."

* * *

Everyone cries, even Jade, although if you couldn't see the tear tracks on her face you wouldn't be able to tell. I stand inbetween Jade and Trina, staring at the ground while Lane drones on. I can't concentrate, and I keep ringing my hands, which must be annoying Jade because she grabs them, stilling them.  
I still feel like I can't breathe, but when Jade touches me, it's better, somehow. She laces our fingers together and I let out an audible sigh. Her hand is shaking, so I squeeze it tightly. She squeezes back and when she loosens her grip her hand is stiller.  
I look up, eyes scanning the group. Even Carly and her group, who haven't known Cat for that long look distraught.  
"Tori?" I look across to Lane. "Do you want to say something?"  
I nod, squeezing Jades hand again before I start to speak.  
"When I met Cat… Well, she was Cat. She started a conversation with me on my first day at Hollywood Arts and then left before I could ask her anything. I didn't know that would be my last day at the school either. I hadn't even meant to find her, I'd gone with my dad to look for Trina and she was just there.  
And then she was there through everything. For seven years, she was my family, the reason I was alive, and I can't… I just can't think of her not being here. I can't think of not seeing her smile or her stupid airy laugh. I can't think of her saying 'what's that supposed to mean?' when she thinks I'm being mean, or feeling her sneak into my bed at night because she heard a noise and she's scared.  
We've lost someone special, and I can't say that it'll be okay, but maybe one day, I can think about Cat and it won't hurt as much as it does now.  
She wouldn't want us to dwell though, to sit here and mope and cry for weeks and just waste away. She'd want us to keep on living. To plant that stupid garden and pick tomatoes and smile about how they're the same colour her hair used to be. She'd want us to play fight, and sing, and stay friends, love each other.  
She'd want us to stay alive, and stay happy." My voice cracks. "I'm gonna miss her so much."  
Jade lets go of my hand, wrapping an arm around my waist, as Beck and Andre lower Cats makeshift coffin into the hole in the ground. We're burying her in the back garden, so she'll always be close. It's what she'd want. They've made the coffin out of old pallets and bits of the shed and it's not a bad job. Carly even found some black paint, and Lane lined the inside with an old silk curtain.  
It looks proper, good enough for her.  
Sikowitz moves towards Jade, holding out a box full of dirt. She takes a handful, scattering it across the top of the coffin. "Bye Cat." She whispers.  
He moves to me next, and I take a handful, scattering it without speaking, then watching as he moves around the circle. When he's done Gibby and Spencer pick up shovels, filling in the hole.

* * *

I'm vaguely aware of people filing into the house, leaving me standing at the graveside with Jade. We stand quietly for a second until she starts shaking. Then she sniffles.  
"It's okay Jade," I turn to look at her. "Just let it out."  
She starts sobbing, and I wrap my arms around her, letting her cry it out.  
"It's just made it real. She's really gone." She whispers against my shoulder. "I kept thinking it was wrong, that she'd just walk through the door and ask everyone why they were sad. But she's not here." Her sobs soon turn back into sniffles, and she pulls back, looking at me. "Sorry."  
"Don't be." I rub her arm then lean in, kissing her softly. "Better?"  
"Better." She wipes under her eyes then looks at my shoulder. "I left a patch."  
I brush it off with my hand, but it just rubs the wet patch further across my top. "It's fine, I've had worst things on me."  
"Oh, I'll bet." She grins.  
"Shut up." I roll my eyes but smile at her anyway.  
"Guys?" I turn around to see Sam at the back door. "You might wanna come out front. "

* * *

When we get through the house to the front Beck is yelling, waving his arms around.  
"What's going on?" I ask Trina. She just points to in front of Beck in answer. Standing there is the guy who killed Cat, arms folded and watching Beck coolly.  
Jade doesn't understand at first until I storm forward, furious.  
"What the fuck are you doing here?" I ask. He's not alone, two women and another man are standing with him, and they look far more apologetic than their friend.  
"We came to make amends." One of the women tells us. She's got sandy blonde hair and her clothes look worse than nearly all of ours. "We wanted to apologise."  
"You didn't do anything, he should apologise." Beck looks towards the man, who remains silent. "He sure doesn't look fucking sorry."  
"I was defending myself." He finally speaks.  
"You were defending yourself against someone who was clearly alive. You didn't even fucking think, you just shot her! And now you've got the nerve to come here, on the day we buried her?" Beck is shaking.  
I feel Jade come up behind us, stop at my shoulder and eye the group carefully. "What do you want?" She asks, voice hollow.  
"What?" The other man speaks.  
"You want something, that's why you're here." She sighs, and when she speaks again, her voice is angry. "You kill one of us, and you come back, trying to extend an olive branch? You're transparent. Now, what the fuck do you want from us."  
"We were going to ask if you had some spare ammo." The other woman, one with darker coloured hair, tells us quietly.  
"So your friend here can kill some more of us? Fuck no. Get out of here." Jade tells them. The rest of the other group have the decency to look ashamed. Not the murderer though.  
"She was in my way." He doesn't even look like he cares. "She shouldn't have been there."  
I see Beck clench his fist, but it's not him that hits the guy, Jade lunges forward, knocking the guy to the ground and beating the shit out of him.  
One of the girls from the other groups moves forward to stop her, but the other guy holds his arm out, stopping her. Interesting. He seems to be older than the rest of the group as well.  
They let Jade hit the guy until she runs out of steam and drags herself back up, moving to stand at my side.  
"Get up, Brad." The older guy tells him.  
"Why didn't you stop her?" He asks, spitting blood onto the ground. His nose is definitely broken, and from here it looks like he's missing a tooth.  
"We're sick of your shit. You're not even sorry. You're lucky we won't leave you here so they can kill you. You deserve it." She shakes her head. "Get back in the car." He stalks off alone. "We're sorry, about him. And about what he did. I know you can't forgive us, but you won't see us again. We're passing through, we'd stopped for supplies."  
Jade turns to Beck, whispers something to him. "You should get rid of him." She tells the other girl as Beck walks back into the house. "He's just gonna stab you in the back. Maybe not now but probably sometime soon. He doesn't care about you. Or anyone." Beck comes out of the house, carrying a box, face blank. He hands it to the older guy. "We better not see you again. If we do, we'll shoot all of you. Not just your wonderful friend over there."  
The girls nod, then leave. The guy stands for a minute, looking at Jade. "Take care of each other." He tells us, then leaves.  
Jade turns and stalks back into the house silently.

* * *

"Thought I'd find you up here." I lean against the door jamb. Jade's sat cross legged on her bed, strumming the guitar absentmindedly.  
"I just needed some time alone." She places the guitar next to the bed.  
"Oh. Do you want me to go?" I stand up from my leaning position.  
"No. I can be alone with you here." The corners of her mouth turn up slightly. "Come in then, idiot."  
I enter the room, closing the door behind me. It feels kind of awkward, the atmosphere is wrong, so I perch on the end of Jade's bed. She shimmies next to me.  
"I'm angry." She tells me. "I should've killed that guy."  
"But you didn't. You couldn't. I know you're mad, but you'd never do that, no matter how much you think someone deserves it. You're too good of a person." I tell her, picking at the quilt.  
"I'm not." She looks down at the quilt as well.  
"Why not?" I frown.  
"Today's been the worst day even. Probably the worst one since I've been alive." She sighs. "It's been shit, basically. And all day all I've thought about is tearing off your clothes." She looks up at me, trying to gauge my reaction. "I shouldn't have said that, I'm sorry, it's just that I…" She's cut off by me leaning forward, capturing her lips.  
"Jade?" I speak when we pull apart. "Shut up."

* * *

I wake up when it's getting dark, alone. I shake my head to try and wake up, then sit up. Where's Jade.  
"Nice tits." Well, I know where Jade is now. I look across the room and she's standing in the door with a plate. I pull the sheet up around my body. "You looked like you needed the sleep, I didn't wanna wake you up. We missed dinner." She crosses the room and puts a pillow down on my lap, placing the plate on the pillow. "It's still hot." She explains, kissing my forehead.  
I smile then pick up the fork resting on the edge of the plate. It's pasta, the same stuff Cat made for us just after we found the group.  
"It's not as good, obviously, but it's not bad. Eat up, you're looking pretty scrawny." Jade smiles but there's worry in her voice.  
"Don't worry, I'll eat it." I stick a fork into the food and shove some into my mouth. I've just not felt like eating, with what's happened with Cat, but the minute the pasta hits my tongue, I practically wolf down the food.  
Jade smiles, watching me for a while, then she picks up the guitar again, "Can I sing you something?" She asks.  
I nod. I've never heard her sing.  
She strums a few times, getting the tone right, then clears her throat. "Alabama, Arkansas , I do love my Ma and Pa, Not the way that I do love you…" She starts. Her voice is beautiful, and the song has so much feeling put into it my eyes well up.  
I stop eating, just watching her, listening to the way her voice rasps on certain words, the way her lips quirk up when she sings certain lines. It's beautiful, she's beautiful. When she finishes, she looks up at me, and she looks nervous.  
"I…" I don't know what to say, so instead I place my plate on the bedside cabinet, and lean forward, kissing her hard.  
"You liked it then?" She grins against my lips.  
"I loved it."

* * *

**Happy Monday! I am aware people start going back to school/college/university today, so if that is you, sux2bu.  
Short-ish chapter because I've had the worst time concentrating this weekend. I am away with the fairies.  
Friday's chapter will be longer, and also really interesting. Well, I think it's interesting.  
Anyhoooo, as always, I hope you've enjoyed this chapter, and if you wanted to give this story a favourite/follow, plz do.  
And if you really, really liked it, you could review. **

**I watched a guy get arrested outside my house earlier, it was cool. He had loads of drugs.**


	12. Twelve

I groan, rolling over to find the bed empty. Cracking open I find that it's dark, too dark for people to be moving around, and Jade is nowhere to be seen.  
I sit up, shuffling forward to throw my feet onto the floor. Looking though the crack in the curtain, I can see it's verging on dawn. I stand, stretching out my limbs and watching the sky change. I might as well get up now, so I change out of my pjs and head downstairs.  
"Jade?" I whisper when I enter the kitchen. Not here. I grab a bottle of water and head out to the garden. "Jade?" Still nothing. Where is she?  
I stand for a minute, thinking of where she could be when I hear the door creak open behind me. I turn, smiling, assuming its Jade but my face drops when it's Andre.  
"Good Morning to you too, Tori." Andre laughs.  
"Sorry, I thought you might be Jade." I grin sheepishly. "Morning."  
"Can't find her?" He asks as he moves towards his plants, checking them carefully.  
"No. I woke up and she was just… gone." I motion with my hands. "Poof."  
"It's been a tough couple of weeks, with what's happened to…" He trails off and clears he throat. We still don't talk about Cat. "And with setting up here, getting stuff together. She's probably gone for walk, clear her head, you know."  
"Yeah, I suppose." I sigh and run a hand through my hair. It needs cutting, it's getting too long. Cat used to do it, but she's not here anymore. Maybe Trina can do it. "How are the plants coming on?" I ask.  
Andre smiles, still checking on the plants. "They're doing really good. I think we'll have tomatoes in a few weeks. And the cucumbers are coming in, look." He points to a plant with small yellow flowers and sure enough, there are tiny cucumbers dangling from it. "I can't really check the potatoes for a few weeks and I don't know what some of the plants are. Lane told me but 'whoosh'" he motions over his head with his hand.

* * *

"Have you seen Jade?" I ask Beck as he passes through the kitchen.  
"Nope, why?" He grabs a bottle of water and stops at the back door to look at me. They're trying to put up an extra shed with wood from the surrounding houses. Apparently we don't have enough room. I think they're just looking for an excuse to be manly.  
"I haven't seen her all day." I frown.  
"Stay still." Trina hisses at me. When I mentioned I needed a haircut, she jumped at the chance to use her "special hair scissors".  
"Yes boss." I roll my eyes, making Beck laugh.  
He leaves the kitchen, leaving me alone with my sister. "So…" She starts, still snipping at my hair. "What's going on with you and Jade?"  
"You're only asking me this because I can't leave, or I'll have half a haircut." I tell her.  
"Well, duh." She laughs. "Come on, tell me."  
I sigh. "We're… I'd say we're dating except that would involve going on dates. I am very fond of her."  
"Is she good in bed?"  
"Trina!" I blush. "I am not talking to you about that!"  
"What? She looks like she'd be into all sorts of kinky stuff."  
I groan. "Can't you ask Beck?"  
"He doesn't know. They never slept together. Didn't she tell you?"  
"I didn't ask, didn't want to know." She ruffles my hair a little. "Are we done?"  
"Yeah." She takes the towel she'd used to keep hair off my clothes from around my shoulders and brushes me down. "Take a look." She points to a mirror in the corner.  
"It looks good." I say, semi-surprised. "Thank you."  
"Always the tone of surprise." She grins at me. "Do you love her?"  
"I… I don't know. I think I do." I sigh. "I'm worried, she's never disappeared like this. She wouldn't go anywhere without telling me."  
"It's Jade, she'll be fine." Trina tells me before she heads outside.

* * *

"Hey kid." I'm sitting on the front porch having a smoke when Sam appears, flopping down next to me. "Can I have one?" She points at the packet sitting in my pocket.  
"Knock yourself out." I hand her the packet.  
"What's wrong?" She takes one, sticking the orange end in her mouth and lighting in.  
"Jade still isn't back." I frown.  
"That's not like her… Did she say where she was going?"  
"No. She wasn't here when I woke up, and now it's like 3pm. It's nearly 12 hours."  
"Alright." Sam stands up and dusts herself off. "Let's go look for her."  
I stand up and head into the house. I haven't touched my bag or gun belt since the Cat incident, and when I pick up the belt there are a few splatters of blood on it. I ignore them, clipping it round my waist.  
"We won't need bags, right?" I turn to Sam, watching her pick up her shotgun. It's a stubby sawn-off thing and it looks like it could do some damage.  
"No, we're just looking." She sticks the gun into a makeshift holster. "Carly?!" She shouts up the stairs.  
Carly's head pokes around the top of the bannister. "Yeah?"  
"We're gonna go look for Jade, be back soon." Sam waves at her then pulls me out of the door.  
"Bye!" I yell over my shoulder.

* * *

"That was a quick goodbye." We're walking down the street, trying to keep an eye out. Sam doesn't look at me when I speak.  
"If I would've hung around she would've tried to talk us out of it, or take Gibby with us. He's too loud." Her eyes scan the road.  
"So, she would've talked you out of it." I surmise.  
Sam rolls her eyes. "Yeah, probably." She grins. "But this is important."  
We come to a stop outside the shop were Cat was shot. "Oh no, I'm not going in there."  
"It's the obvious place to look Tor, come on." Sam tugs at my elbow. "You're gonna have to go in their sooner or later, better it's sooner. Rip the bandage off, you know?"  
"Okay, okay." I agree, heading over to the door. Sam passed in front of me, opening the door and slipping in. The bell rings sadly. I take a deep breath, sighing and entering.  
"Sam?"  
"I'm in the back, you know Beck left cigarettes here?" I can hear her shuffling through boxes. "Should've brought my bag."  
I tune her out, looking down at the ground where there's a dried patch of blood. Cat's blood. I bend down, looking at the ground.  
Sam walks over, standing next to me. "She's not here, kid."  
"Huh?" I look up from the stain to see Sam smiling sadly at me.  
"Jade's not here. Come on, there's more places to check."  
I stand up slowly, looking down at the patch of blood one more time then looking back at Sam.  
"I guess you're right, we should…" I'm interrupted by the door ringing. I spin, unholstering my gun and pointing it at the door.  
It's the friend of the murder. He throws his hands up in surrender.  
"We told you to leave." Sam speaks up from behind me. I don't lower my gun.  
"I know. We were looking for Brad. He's… he's snapped, he took Jen and fled." He keeps his hands up. "We think he's gonna do something bad, he was muttering about your friend, the one who hit him."  
My eyes widen in realisation and I drop my gun in shock.  
"When?!" Sam yells. "When did you lose track of him?!"  
"Last night." He eyes us with confusion. "Why?"  
"Jade's missing. That's why we're out here, we're looking for her."  
"Fuck." He mumbles, running a hand through his salt and pepper hair. "There are a couple of places we think he could be." He holds his hand out toward me. "Truce?"  
"Truce." I shake his hand. "I'm Tori. This is Sam."  
"Sam, Tori." He nods. "I'm Derek." He holds his hand out to Sam but she just eyes it. He takes the hint and drop it. "Alice is waiting outside. Should we head up to your base, get back up?"  
"No." Sam interjects before I can speak. "We don't have time. Show us where you think he's taken her." Sam brushes past him, heading out the door. The guy shrugs then follows after her.  
I look over my shoulder one last time, eyes sweeping the room before I head out .  
Derek's friend, Alice, is leaning up against the side of a car, eying Sam suspiciously. Derek is pointing at something, talking to her.  
"What's going on?" I walk up behind Sam, trying to follow the line of Derek's finger, to see where he's pointing.  
"He's shown me a couple of places, but the only one with any real possibility is that house up there. It's big, it's got high walls, it's like ours but more run down, basically." Sam explains to me.  
"And if they're not there?" I ask, biting at the skin on my thumb in worry.  
"We'll find her." Sam rubs my arm.  
She turns, looking at the other two. "Get what you need from the car, if we drive up they'll hear us."  
"Who put you in charge?" The woman bristles.  
"I just did." Sam grins at her. "Get moving, we don't have all day, or do you wanna find your friend with a hole in the head?" She turns, walking off. I follow her.

* * *

"Is she always like this?" The girl, Alice, points at Sam, who's stalking ahead of us, Derek struggling to keep up behind her.  
"She's just worried." This girl asks a lot of questions.  
"Yeah, but so are you."  
"Sam's more of a doer, I'm a panic and cry kinda girl." I sigh. "Don't question her. She knows what she's doing."  
Sam stops at the top of the road, just out of view of the house. "Alright, you ready to do this?"

* * *

**I super promise that monday's chapter will be at least 4,000 words, and it it's not you have permission to cut a bitch. The bitch being me.  
I'm in the middle of sorting out so much stuff for uni and my general life and I apologise for this poor excuse of an update.**

**I hope you like what little I managed to squeeze out of my brain, next chapter will be super interesting.**

**please enjoy and review!**


	13. Thirteen

"So, what's the plan?" We've moved entirely off the road, standing behind a thick grove of trees.  
"We'll split up. Tori and I will take one side, you and Alice the other." She looks over at Derek, who nods. "Search the house, quietly, find them, then make as much noise as possible. Got it?" She looks at the other two, who shake their heads in agreement. "Alright, you take this side, we'll fan around the back and head in at the back gate."  
We split up, muttering good lucks, then head round the house, sticking close to the wall.  
"I don't trust them." Sam tells me, frowning as she picks her way through the undergrowth. "They're so weird."  
"We don't have to trust them." I trip; Sam grabs my arm and rights me. "Thanks. Like I said, you don't need to trust them, we just need to find Jade."  
"I know, Kid. We'll get her out." Sam sets out in front of me again, hand trailing across the wall.  
"What if she's not here?" I worry out loud.  
"Hey." She stops, turning around. "She'll be here." She rubs my arm for a second before she walks off again.  
I follow, mind straying to what exactly is happening in the house. Are they there? Is Jade even still alive? I'm shaken from my thoughts by Sam opening the gate. It creaks slightly, the hinges protesting at the use, then sticks. Sam shakes it slightly, then pushes again, but it refuses to budge.  
"Looks like we're sliding though." She tells me, then slithers through the gap.  
I slip through behind her, then look up at the house. It's huge, but it's falling to pieces.  
"You weren't lying when you said this place was a shit-tip." My eyes roam the outside of the building.  
"Be careful, when we're in, the floors probably coming apart as well." She tells me, eyes locked on the back door. "And, whatever happens, make sure you get Jade out."  
"What?" I look at her in confusion.  
"Nothing, let's go in." She tries to push past me, but I grab her arm.  
"What do you mean, Sam?" She goes to pull her arm free but I hold her still.  
She sighs. "We need Jade. We don't need me, so, you know, if there's a choice."  
"You idiot." I shake her. "I need you. Since Cat… I need you now more than ever. We all do. Carly would kill me if I ever let anything happen to you."  
Sam rolls her eyes, but nods as well. "Carly would kill me if anything happened to me. Come on."  
I stop her again. "Why didn't we go back to the house, to tell them what was happening?"  
"It's dangerous, Carly wouldn't let me go. And I'd listen to her, and you'd end up here with Beck or Andre and they're not quiet enough. They'd get you killed."  
"You don't trust them?"  
"Not to keep you safe, kid."  
I grin, "You know, if someone heard you say that, they might think you actually like me."  
"You're like my best friend." She smiles at me then runs through her hair. "You know, besides Carls."

* * *

Sam walks up to the backdoor of the house, pushing it gently. It creaks open, causing Sam to sigh in relief.  
"Don't have to bust through the window now." She turns to me. "Alright, quiet now. No noise unless it's important. Got it." I nod. "Good."  
We pick our way through the bottom floor silently. The house is weirdly arranged, like none of the rooms make sense and are in the wrong order. Sam stays at the front, weaving around furniture and trying to avoid the creaks in the floorboards, showing me where to step.  
We're in what looks like a dining room, somewhere in the centre of the house, when we hear muffled talking from upstairs. Sam holds her hand out, stilling me.  
"Where are your friends now, bitch." The voice floats down through the floorboards, full of malice. "There's no-one to save you here." There's a noise, a muffled slap, and then the sound of something hitting the floor.  
I move, walking towards the door when Sam's hand shoots out, stopping me. "Wait." She whispers.  
"Tori will find me." Someone speaks, and I sigh with relief. "She'll save me, but she'll kill you. Or your 'friends' will find you. Find out what you've done. What then?"  
"You'll be dead long before then, and I'll be long gone." Another muffled thump. "It'll take them days to realise that I've kept you so close to home."  
"Not likely." Sam scoffs from beside me. "Come on."  
We head towards where we think the stairs are located, and bump into Alice and Derek.  
"You heard them, right?" Derek whispers.  
"Yeah, we've heard them." Sam nods, then starts up the stairs. "Come on, let's stop this."

* * *

We creep up the stairs in single file, looking around cautiously. Something still doesn't feel right, the hairs on the back of my neck are standing up.  
When we reach the top it's easy to see which room he's keeping Jade in, candle light flickering out from under the door and washing across the wooden flooring.  
"Alright." Derek practically mouths. "I'll bust through the door, pull him down. Come in after me."  
Derek waits for us to agree then runs forward, kicking open the door. He's soon sent flying back by a shotgun blast straight to the chest. He hits the wall above the stairs then tumbles down them.  
"Derek!" Alice screams, then runs down the stairs.  
Brad fires again, shrapnel from the shotgun grazing my arm. I throw myself up against the wall next to the door, and Sam does the same.  
I draw my pistol, and Sam draws her shotgun.  
"I see you, Blondie." He sneers. "You can't hide from me. And you're all alone now."  
I frown, open my mouth but Sam shakes her head.  
"What did you think you were gonna do? Swoop in here with those losers, save this slut and all your friends would love you." I hear a click, followed by him groaning. "Looks like we'll have to do this the old fashioned way." I heard something scraping across the floor, and Jade mutters something I can't hear. "Come out now, or I'll slit her throat."  
"You fucking scumbag." Jade spits at him. I peak through a crack in the wall caused by the shotgun shrapnel. I can't see her, she's blocked out by Brad standing in front of her, brandishing a knife.  
Sam steps around the door frame, holding her hands up. "Alright man, don't do anything stupid."  
"Move forward, come here now. And drop your weapon." Sam moves into the room at his request, stopping to bend down and place her gun on the floor. When she gets close enough to him, he lashes out, slashing at her and then punching her in the head. She hits the floor in a split second, blood pouring from her wound.  
"Look, you stupid bitch, your friends can't even save you. Your little slut didn't even turn up." He walks around her then stops in front of Sam, pushing her with his foot. "Oh, I'm gonna have fun with you two." Something in his voice fills me with disgust. I clutch the handle of my pistol tighter, watching him through the gap. I don't dare look at Jade, knowing I'll be distracted.

* * *

My opportunity comes when he moves to Sam's head with the intention of moving her. I pop out from around the door, shooting him. I hit him in the shoulder and he falls, cracking his head against a table in the room, fracturing the wood. He doesn't move when he hits the floor, blood pooling underneath him.

I move around the doorframe, dropping my gun and head straight to Sam first. I have no idea if she's alive, and I need to check her before I deal with Jade. I bend down next to her, rolling her from her side onto her front. The slash wound from the knife isn't very deep, cutting across the top of her arm, and a bruise is forming around her eye, but she's breathing. She's alive.  
I sigh before rubbing my hands against my pants, then look up at Jade for the first time. She's battered and bloody, but she's awake, and alive, and right in front of me. I bend down, untying her legs.  
"You came." Her voice cracks.  
"Of course I came." I stand, bending over her, trying to brush some hair from her face. "I told you, I'll always be here."  
Jade smiles weakly, "I love you." She whispers. "I love you, I love you."  
I lean forward, kissing her forehead. "I lo…" I'm cut off by a sharp pain in my side. I look down and see a knife poking through my side. "I…" Something hits me from behind, sending me sprawling sideways. I hit the ground next to Jade's chair.  
I roll, trying to get a look at my assailant, and Brad stands over me, holding a bloody knife and grinning. Blood is pouring from the wound in his shoulder, mingling with blood that looks like it's coming from his ear.  
"I guess your slut is here." He laughs, kicking me in the side, hitting the stab wound. I groan. "The party's just starting!" He sounds desperate, like he knows he's not getting out of here. He kicks me again but it's weaker. "Come on, don't you have anything to say?" He kicks me in the face this time.  
"Fuck you." I spit, splattering blood across the floor. I feel the inside of my mouth with my tongue, taste blood where my teeth have split the skin inside.  
"Oh, you've got bite!" He grins, trying to bed over me. "You're gonna be a lot of fun." He moves the knife across my face, slicing my cheek.  
"Leave her the fuck alone." Jade explodes, kicking out from her chair. She kicks him in the side, sending him sprawling. He laughs.  
"That all you got." He hauls himself up off the floor. "Alright, bitch, we'll play for a while." He picks up his knife again, crossing over to her. She kicks out again, this time catching him in the crotch. He doubles over. "You stupid fucking slut." He groans. "I don't think I wanna play with you anymore."  
He stands back up, raising the knife over his head. "Bye bye."  
He thrusts the knife down, and something inside me clicks. I throw myself up into the way, and the knife slices through my shoulder, sticking into the wound. I gasp, then shudder, hitting the floor.  
"You wanna play instead? Tryna save your little girlfriend here? You should've stopped her. She humiliated me, so I have to end her. You'll understand one day." He pauses. "Well, you won't, because I'm going to kill you. But it'll be okay." He leans over me, wiggles the knife. I grit my teeth, determined not to show weakness. "You're not a screamer, huh?" He pushes down on the knife handle before pulling it out.  
"It's okay, you'll get to hear your friends scream plenty before the nights out." He gets up, stumbling slightly, probably weak from blood loss, then moves back over to Jade. She spits at him.  
"Oh, feisty!" He runs the knife over her mouth, wiping my blood onto her face. "You like that? I bet you've tasted everything else about her, only right you should get to taste that. Go on, give it a lick." He waves the knife in front of her face again, but Jade keeps her mouth tightly closed. The worlds starting to blur, and I know I'm gonna be unconscious soon, but I try to shake my head, keep myself awake.  
"Come on girly, there's more fight in you than that." He leans over so they're practically nose to nose. "Fight me." Jade stays still, eyes not leaving the man's face. "Still nothing to say?" He stands up again, wiping the knife against his shirt. "Well, I've got something that'll make you shout." He raises the knife up over his head, and I can't look, close my eyes tight. Instead of Jade screaming I hear a gunshot, and when I open my eyes, Brad is falling on the ground next to me, bullet hole in his forehead.

* * *

"Yeah, well, I'm louder." Sam grumbles, dropping my gun. "You okay Jade?" She asks, Jade nods, then starts wiggling.  
"Please untie me." She asks Sam, who moves around the back of her.  
"Okay." She crouches down behind Jade, working at the knots. "Where's Tori."  
"I'm here." I groan, trying to push myself up from the ground. I get halfway there, propped up on my elbow when Jade shoots out of her chair, lifting me up and trying to check my wounds.  
"You're a fucking idiot, you know that right?" She tells me as she grabs the knife, using it to rip away part of her shirt to tie around the wound on my shoulder. The blood coming from the wound on my side has slowed to a trickle. "Sam?" She turns, looking at Sam who's eyeing the body of the blonde woman, sitting in the corner, throat slashed. "Sam?" She tries again.  
"Huh?" Sam looks up.  
"Can you get me my bag? It's under that table. My walkie talkie is in it."  
"You had your walkie talkie this entire time?" I ask her.  
"Yeah, well I was a bit tied up." She tries to smile at me. "I'm so sorry." She mumbles.  
"It's not your fault, you idiot." I open my mouth to speak again, but I'm interrupted by Sam passing Jade her walkie talkie.  
She turns it on, then speaks into it. "Hello?"  
"Jade?" Becks voice crackles over the speaker. "Is that you?"  
"Yeah, it's me."  
"What happened?" Beck sounds worried. "Are you with Sam and Tori? Are they okay?"  
"We're all pretty beat up, can you come and get us in the truck? We're at that first house we looked at."  
"Yeah, I'll bring Gibby and Andre, be there ASAP. Keep this line open?" He requests.  
"Yeah, yeah." Her voice breaks a little. "Just hurry up, please."  
Placing the walkie talkie down on the floor, she looks at me. "How did you find me?" She asks.  
"Derek and Alice were looking for their friend when we were looking for you. We bumped into each other, they thought they knew where to find you. Turns out they were right."  
"Where are they now?" Jade asks, brow furrowing.  
"I…" I'm cut off by a voice in the door.  
"We're here." Derek steps into the room, limping. His shirt is open, and he's wearing a Kevlar vest underneath it. "Took a hell of a fall though." He laughs wheezily. "You girls alright?" We nod, so he continues talking. "Have y'all seen Jen?"  
Jade nods sadly to the corner. "I tried to stop him, but he just, she called him weak, and he went berserk, I…"  
Derek cuts her off. "It's okay, it's not your fault." He nods to Alice, who moves over to the corner, hauling up the body and lifting it over her shoulder. She leaves a large pool behind. "We wanna bury her proper, like she deserves."  
"Yeah." Jade nods. "Listen, if you guys are planning on setting up camp in town, we could do with some new neighbours. There's no room at our camp, but there's a house a little way away that's practically the same, if not a bit smaller."  
"We saw it when we were passing through." He smiles at her. "That's a mighty kind offer, Miss. We'll consider it." He turns to walk out the door but looks back over his should. "Thank you."

* * *

"That was very kind of you." I grin weakly at Jade when Derek leaves. "Some may say you're growing up."  
"Oh shut up." She half smiles, then looks at my shoulder. "You're bleeding through the bandages." She grumbles, then sifts through her bag, pulling out an old shirt. She presses it to the wound. "I'd really appreciate it if you could stop bleeding.  
"I'm trying." I laugh, then gasp a wheezy breath.  
We sit in silence for a minute, watching Sam stare out of the window. She's looking out for the truck.  
"Jade?" I mutter. We've moved slightly so I'm leaning against her chest, my face practically pressed against her neck.  
"Yeah Tor?" She rubs her free hand against my arm. "You're cold."  
"I love you." I whisper.  
"I love you too." She whispers back.  
"I'm sorry." I tell her, then kiss her neck.  
"What for?" She looks down at me.  
My head lulls to the side. "I didn't want to leave you, not like this. I told you I wasn't going anywhere."  
"And you're not. You'll be fine." She tells me firmly.  
"I'm… I don't hurt anymore. When I was little, I'd read everything I could get my hands on, and my Grandma had all these medical books. She used to be a nurse. They all said." I gasp. "That when you stop hurting, it's a bad sign. You've lost too much blood, you're gonna die." I try and swallow but my mouth is dry. "I don't wanna die, not like this." I feel something wet drip on my face and realise Jade's crying. "I'm not done… I'm not done loving you."  
"You're not gonna die, okay? Beck will be here any minute. We'll take you home, fix you up. You'll be fine." She moves slightly to wipe at her eyes. "We'll be okay. I promise." She tightens her grip around me. "You can't go yet."  
"Becks here!" Sam yells, making us jump. I'd forgotten that she was here. She runs out of the room and down the stairs.  
"See…" Jade wipes her eyes again. "We're going home, it's okay." She shifts, sliding her arms under me and lifting me up. "Just stay awake? Okay? You have to stay awake."  
She makes her way down the stairs carefully, bumping into Beck when she reaches the bottom.  
"I'll take her." He tells her softly, reaching out.  
"No, I've got her, just open the car door." She nudges him with her elbow and he drops his arms, then moves out of the house. "Gibby?" He's standing next to the car, looking worried. I snuggle further into Jade's chest as she speaks. The sound vibrates through her chest, and it's soothing. "Can you go upstairs and grab my back and walkie talkie, they're in the room with the light on." He nods, heading off, as Beck pulls open the door of the car. Jade slides in, still holding me, and pulls me tighter to her chest. Sam slides in after her, pulling the door closed.

* * *

Gibby reappears a few moments later, holding Jade's bag. He whispers something to Beck before he opens the boot, throwing Jade's bag in and sliding in after it. No one speaks, afraid to ask what's happened, so the car ride back to base is mostly silent. Jade holds me close the entire time, singing to me under her breath, trying to give me something to focus on.  
My hand trails up her arm and cups her face. She looks even paler against my skin, coffee against cream, and the bruising on her face is coming through dark purple, making her skin look translucent. She looks down at me when I brush my thumb across her cheek. I try and smile, as much as I can muster and she leans in, pressing her lips against mine softly.  
The cut on the inside of my mouth burns dully but I push it aside, concentrating on her. If I'm going to die, I'm at least going to show her everything I feel before I do. I pour it all into the kiss, and I think she understands, because when we pull apart, her eyes shine with unshed tears.  
"I love you." She whispers against my check, kissing it.  
"I love you too, don't ever… don't ever forget that." It's getting harder to breathe, and to talk which definitely isn't a good sign.

* * *

We pull up outside the house when I'm barely conscious, clinging to the light, trying to keep myself from slipping under. I vaguely register Trina's worried face swim into view, and then Jade and Carly and standing over me, cutting away my t-shirt and trying to get access to the bleeding.  
"I think he's caught an artery." Carly says, poking at me. It's annoying, and part of me wants to bat her away, to tell her to let me sleep. I can feel myself frowning. They're still speaking but I can't concentrate on the words.  
Trina's face swims into view. "Tori?" I turn my head and squint up at her. "You'll be okay." She grips my hand. "This might hurt though."  
I frown in question, wondering what she's talking about and then I feel something digging in my shoulder. My body goes rigid and I tense against the table, suppressing the urge to scream.  
"It's okay, it'll be okay." Trina strokes my hair, trying to keep my calm, but the pain in my shoulder is unbearable.  
"Can you not doing it faster?" Jade sounds worried, and I feel her hand grip at my leg.  
"Not unless you want me to kill her, no." Carly bites back, still working. "Fuck." She mumbles.  
"Fuck?" Jade asks as my world starts to blur even more.  
"The hole is bigger than I thought, she's bleeding too much, I can't see what I'm doing." Carly rattles off.  
The rooms bright. Too bright, and loud. My eyes burn, and I feel like my ear drums are bursting. Trina's still clutching at my hand, but the touch annoys me. I just want everyone to get off me, to leave me alone. Faces swim into view but they're jumbled, and nothing makes sense.  
My eyes start to flutter closed.  
"Tori?" Trina's voice again, too loud. "Tori?" She shakes my hand as my eyelids flutter closed.  
I'm aware of someone shouting, and hands gripping at me, then the world fades out, and I succumb to the darkness.

* * *

**DUN DUN DUN.**

**I felt bad, about how shit Friday's chapter was that you've gotten Monday's early. And now I'm going to write a new Monday.  
I got a suggestion that Tori should get hurt saving Jade or something like that? So there you go, nice reviewer. Got some nifty stuff coming up.**

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and if you want to review, I will touch you on the butt. **

**BYE.**


	14. Fourteen, Part One

"Here." I look up to see Trina standing in front of me with a cup of coffee. "Lane busted it out, said it was needed today." I take the cup from her hands, sniffing it before taking a drink. "Anything?"  
"No." I frown, leaning to put the cup down on the bedside table. "Nothing. She hasn't even moved all night." I run my hands through my hair, then look back down at the bed.  
"She'll wake up. Don't worry." She pulls a chair from the side of the room and places it next to mine. "Mind if I sit?"  
"Yeah, sure." I pick up my cup, taking another drink. We sit in silence, besides the occasional gulp from a cup. I know Trina doesn't want to push me, make me talk about things that I don't want to, and I'm grateful for that. It's me that breaks the silence. "What if she doesn't wake up?"  
"She will. You know her. I know her. She's strong… stronger than this. She just needs some time." Trina puts a hand on my shoulder. I don't flinch, or move away like I normally do. The touch is comforting. "You're gonna drive yourself crazy sitting here. Have you even slept?"  
"I tried, but I just couldn't. It's like my eyes wouldn't stay closed." I frown.  
"You look like shit." She tells me honestly.  
"Gee, Trina, tell me how it really is." I deadpan.  
"You think she wants to wake up to find that you've been sat here practically destroying yourself?" Her hand rubs my back.  
"It's my fault this happened, she wouldn't be here if it wasn't for me." I sniffle. "I fucked up."  
"This isn't your fault. It's not like you knew what'd happen, is it? What happened, before, with Cat, the reaction was completely valid. We all got that, his friends even did. And they didn't know it'd happen. Is it your fault the other girl died?"  
"Yes. No… I don't know. It sure feels like it." I drain the last of the coffee from the cup and place it back down. I sigh. "I just wish she'd wake up… I feel so lost without her."  
"She's finding her way back to you. Don't punish yourself. She needs you, but so do we. Even I do, although I can practically feel 17 year old me screaming at me in my head for that." She laughs, and I even chuckle a little. "I should go find Andre, he wanted someone to help him till some more land for his stupid vegetables, and everyone else was mysteriously busy." She stands up, pushes the chair back against the wall. "You gonna be okay?"  
"Yeah. I might try and get some sleep."  
"Good." She heads to the door, then turns to look at me. "Jade?"  
"Yeah?"  
"Thanks for looking after my little sister."  
"You can thank me when she wakes up."  
She doesn't say anything else, and the door clicks closed behind her. I sit for a minute, watching Tori's chest rise evenly then move to grab the chair Trina had pushed up against the wall, and a blanket from the bottom of the bed.  
Throwing my feet up, I cover myself with the blanket and try to get comfortable.

* * *

Try as I might, I just can't get to sleep. I spend an hour lay across the chairs, another hour lying on the floor. I even try curling up at the bottom of Tori's bed, but nothing. I'm exhausted, and every part of my body aches dully but I pull myself up. I sigh, dropping my head forward into my hands and rubbing my arms.  
The rooms still full of Cats stuff, her bed untouched, a crumpled t-shirt laying on top of the sheets. I walk over and perch on top of the sheets, careful not to rumple anything. I didn't even think of sleeping here. I can't. It's her bed. It smells like her. I never got why she wanted to share a room with Tori, even when we found the new house. I thought after spending seven years together they'd want some time apart. They were together right up until the end. Maybe that's why Tori isn't waking up now. Cat meant so much to her, I'd never rival that. Maybe she's got no fight left.  
I smooth my hands across the covers, surprised when my hand hits a lump near the pillow. I don't want to disturb the sheets but curiosity gets the better of me so I carefully slide my hand underneath, grabbing the object. The plastic wrapper crinkles against my skin and I smile. Bibble. I pull it out and laugh under my breath.  
Cat and her bibble. I remember when Tori and Cat first moved into the old house, I was walking past their room one night and I could hear them talking. I couldn't make out what they were saying at first, until I heard the crunch of the wrapper and realised that Tori was telling Cat off for eating in bed.  
When we were younger, Cat would eat in bed when I stayed over. It'd drive me insane because she'd get crumbs everywhere, and then it'd feel like I was lying in sand and I couldn't get to sleep. She could sleep through anything though.

* * *

I miss her. I wish she was here. She'd know what to do, what to say to me to make me feel better. Hell, she'd probably be the only person who'd be able to wake up Tori. This is a mess, how did everything even end up this way? I lost Cat. Twice. And now I'm probably losing Tori too. I run my hand through my hair then stand up, beginning to pace. I throw a look over to the bed where Tori lies, chest rising evenly. She's paler than I've ever seen her. Paler than when I brought her home last night. She looks like a ghost. She feels like a ghost, her skin is so cold, even though half of the blankets we own are currently covering her.  
I feel tears rise up into my eyes, shake my head angrily. I'm Jade West, I don't cry. I shout, and I scream, and I break things, but I don't cry. Except I do. I feel like all I've done since Tori turned up is cry. I feel so weak, I am weak. This isn't who I am. Or who I was. I don't even know who I am. And now all I want is to stop fucking thinking for five minutes but I can't.  
My anger gets the better of me and I rip a chair up from the floor, throwing it against the wall. It's loud, and the chair splinters, pulling bits of paint and plaster off the wall. Tori doesn't flinch. I feel like screaming.  
"What the fuck are you doing?" I turn around to see Sam in the door way.  
"I…" I don't even know what to say. "I…" I feel the tears welling in my eyes again. Sam is definitely the last person I want to cry in front of but I can't stop it this time. My face crumples. "Why won't she wake up?" My voice is small, and it cracks over the last letter as I sink to the floor. "Why?"  
Sam says something to someone outside the door then comes in, closing it softly behind her.  
"You've gotta give her time." She tells me, sitting down cross legged next to wear I crouch. She picks up part of the chair I've destroyed.  
"She doesn't move. She didn't even flinch." I don't need to explain that, I'm pretty sure half of the house heard the chair break. My head falls forward, hair covering my face. "I was fine until she came along, and now… I can't sleep… I can't eat. I can barely even breathe when she's just lying there. Whenever people talked about heart break, I always thought they were being pussies, that they were weak people, but now, it hurts. It feels like my hearts breaking in two. I can't do it anymore, not if she's not here."  
Sam doesn't say anything, but her hand rests on my back, rubbing it softly.  
I let out a shaky breath. "Everyone keeps telling me that it's fine, that she'll wake up, but what if she doesn't?"  
"I'm not gonna tell you it's gonna be fine." Sam says, taking her hand off my back. "She might die. She went through a lot last night. People in hospitals have died from less, and we have no sterile equipment, barely any antibiotics. None of us are doctors…"  
"Not helping." I tell her darkly.  
"Shut up. We're unprepared, is what I'm getting at. But Tori, she loves you. She wouldn't leave you without a fight. There's only so many times you can have this conversation, Jade.  
And she's lucky, the stories she's told? The stuff she's gotten into even while she's been here? She could've died a thousand times over. She's avoided the infection. She's survived being shot, being mauled by a feral. We nearly blew her up and she survived that. Think about how pissed off she'd be if she let a guy with a knife kill her.  
You've gotta get out of your head, or you're gonna kill yourself before you even get a chance to see if she wakes up." Sam stands up, then holds her hand out to me. "Come on. You're gonna shower, and get something to eat, and talk to your friends, then maybe get some sleep. And tell Beck you broke the chair.  
I'll stay here with her." I start to interrupt her but she stops me. "No. Get out." She points at the door.  
"Sam?" I move toward the door, she looks up from sweeping up the chair with the side of her foot. "Thanks."

* * *

**This is short, but as the chapter title states, it's part one of the this chapter. My cats doing the wiggly bum pounce thing and it is cute.  
****I might actually have the next chapter up before the weekends over. Or today's over. It depends on how fast I write while my washing is washing. **

**Thank you for being patient with me, and I hope you enjoy this chapter, even though it's a little dull. I just wanted to get inside Jade's head a little bit. **

**ok, as always, I hope you enjoyed it, and please review.**


	15. Fourteen, Part Two

"The brain's a weird thing. You know we only use like 70% of it? I mean, it's just a lump of grey mass and it controls us. It adapts, changes, to fit our needs. It can show you all these things that haven't happened. Make up entire images and situations. When it gets hurt, traumatised, it gets even more mysterious."  
"Is that why you're here?" I look up from the patch of grass I'm plucking at.  
"What?"  
"Well, I'm pretty sure you're dead. And we don't live here anymore. Yet, you're here. Standing there. Looking at me."  
"I'm here for you."  
"What does that even mean, Cat?"  
"It means… I'm here for you." She crosses the grass and sits herself down beside me.  
"Am I dead?"  
"I don't know, are you?"  
"You're so cryptic now, I miss the old straight-forward, easy to talk to Cat." I sigh, raising my hands in exasperation.  
"Well, dying changes you. And you're still the same old Tori, so my guess is you're not dead. Or you're dying. Either or." She grins at me, then raises her face up toward the sun. "So… how've you been?"  
"Oh, you know, got stabbed, that kinda thing. You?"  
"Dead, mostly." She sighs, leaning back on her arms. "Anything new with the gang?"  
"Shouldn't you be preparing me for the afterlife or whatever?"  
"Not everything's about you, Tori. Maybe you're not dead yet, or I just want to catch up before you wake up. Maybe I'm not even here, and your brain has made this entire thing up to let your body rest. Who knows." She shrugs. "So, how is everyone?"  
"Geez." I sigh, then lean back, mimicking her. "They're good. They're all still alive, which is always a plus. They miss you." I look down at my feet, eyes tracing the scuffs on the old pair of chucks I wear. "I miss you. A lot. Some days I don't even wanna get out of bed. It's weird without you around."  
"It was weird dying. I thought it would hurt, but it didn't. I just went numb. At least I didn't get ripped up by the infected. Poor Robbie. That can't be a good way to go." She sighs again, running her fingers through the grass. "I'm glad you were there though. It made it easier. I just wish I'd gotten to say goodbye to everyone else."  
"Yeah, it was…" I trail off, not knowing what to say. "We had a funeral for you. Everyone cried and got drunk of that whiskey Lane had been saving forever. It might have been the worst day of my life."  
"Worse than dying?"  
"Worse than dying." I confirm. "At least when I was dying there was other stuff to think about. When you… there was nothing. For so long after you were still the only thing I thought about."  
"Hmm."  
"Yeah." I sit up again, looking up through the leaves in the tree and watching the way the sunlight streams through them. If this is a dream then I need to give my brain more credit. "I'm glad you're here though." I look at her and smile softly. "I mean, if I'm dying, I can't think of anyone else I'd spend my last, whatever this is with."

* * *

"Okay, dying is boring." I sit up, looking at Cat. We've been sitting under the same tree for what feels like forever, occasionally murmuring half conversations. "Don't you have any advice for me? 'Don't go into the light'? Shouldn't you tell me to wake up or something?"  
"I'm not here to tell you anything." Cat looks at me, brown eyes wide.  
"What are you here for then?"  
"For you." She tells me simply.  
"I still don't know what that means." I huff.  
"Does it matter?"  
"Yes! You're my best friend! You should be telling me to fight, to wake up! That it's not my time to die, that people still need me."  
"I was your best friend, and now I'm dead. And you already know all that stuff, Tori. You know that after everything you've survived dying now would be unfair, and so, so stupid. You know that it's not your time… that you still feel like you've got stuff left to do. You know that people still need you. Jade and Sam and the others."  
"You're still my best friend, Cat. You're my family. Nothing will ever change that. Not you dying, not me dying. Nothing."  
"I… Good. You're still my best friend. Even though I'm dead… and possibly a figment of your imagination." She stretches out her hand, lacing her fingers with mine. She feels solid, warm… alive.  
"Tori?"  
"What?"  
"I didn't say anything. Things must be bleeding through." She cocks her head, listening. It sounds like someone's talking, far away. "Sounds like Jade." She squeezes my hand. "This must be hard for her. And I bet she's not sleeping." She scootches a little closer, resting her head on my shoulder. "Once when we were young, really young, I got the flu when my parents were out of town with my brother. I was staying with Jade, and her mom, and I was so ill. I remember feeling like I was dying." She chuckles to herself. "I was probably super contagious, and I was throwing up every half an hour but Jade never left my side, not once."  
"She's a lot more caring than she lets on, huh?"  
"Yeah. Can you do something for me, Tori?" She asks, wiggling her head into the nook between my neck and shoulder.  
"Sure, what?"  
"I know I told you, before, when I was, you know, dying, but I need you to look after her. Jade, I mean. She spends so much time these days, worrying about everyone else. She's gonna burn out. Like right now, she's probably at your bedside, sitting around, not eating, worrying about you. And when you wake up, she's gonna do the same, then carry on like nothing's happened. You need to make sure she takes time for herself."  
"If I wake up."  
"You'll wake up. I mean, do you hear that?" She pauses for long enough for me to hear Jade's soft murmur. "It's bleeding through. Getting louder. You're getting better. Which means I have to leave soon."  
"You can't leave. Can't I stay here with you for a bit longer?"  
"No. I wish I could stay here, with you, forever, but I can't. I need to go, and you need to wake up."  
"Will I ever see you again?" I close my eyes, willing tears to stay behind the lids. I can almost make out what Jade's saying now.  
"I wish I could say yes… But I can't. Maybe you will see me again. Maybe one day, when you're an old lady, surrounded by family, you'll slip away peacefully and we'll have some Titanic-esque reunion under this tree. But I don't know."  
"I don't want you to go." I swallow loudly. "I love you."  
"Just… just close your eyes, okay? You'll wake up and you won't even remember if you really spoke to me. It'll just be some weird dream that you tell everyone you vaguely remember." She sounds sad. "So close your eyes, and listen to your girlfriend. You'll be okay. I love you too."  
I do as she says, closing my eyes and focusing on Jade's voice. It's clearer now, I can make out what she's saying.  
"… Wake up. Everyone keeps fussing around, asking me if I'm okay. I don't know what to tell them, Tor. I'm tired. I just wish you'd wake up now. I miss your voice. Your eyes. I know you're tired, and you've done so much for me already, but I just need you to do this one last thing and we'll call it evens, okay?" Her voice sounds like it's breaking.  
The world feels like it's shifting, and Cats weight moves from my arm. I try to open my eyes, speak out, ask Cat where she's going but I can't move. My eyelids flicker.  
"Tori?" Jades voice feels close. Close enough that I could reach out and touch her. "Tori, can you hear me?" I feel pressure on my arm.  
I try to shake my head, but a pain in my neck stops me. I'm definitely dying now. Something is wrong. I try and will Cat back with my mind, practically scream for her but she doesn't appear. Everything starts to turn white. Yep, I'm dead. Do I go into the light? Don't go into the light. The pain in my neck is getting stronger, burning.  
"Tori?" I will myself to do something, anything, and one of my eyes cracks open, then immediately closes. It's bright. Really bright, like someone's holding a lamp over my face. I close my eyes tighter then ease them open, trying to focus on the surroundings.

* * *

If this is heaven, then it's really dull. I try and move, look around for something to focus on but my neck screams in protest. Now that I feel more in control of my body, it actually feels more like my shoulder.  
"Tori?" I try and move again, look in the direction of the voice but I can't move my head. I groan in pain. "No, don't try and move." A face looms over me, blocking out the light.  
My eyes blur, unused to the sharp change in brightness, and try and focus. When they finally manage it, the face that swims into focus is everything I was hoping for.  
Forehead wrinkled in worry and face slightly bruised, she's as beautiful as ever.

"Jade?"

* * *

**YO YO YO. Bet you'd thought I'd forgotten about you, huh? WELL, no such luck. I am here, I'm queer, get used to it. Or whatever.  
****I'm so so so sorry this took me so long, but I was getting settled in my new digs, sorting out my shit, unpacking, spending time with my friends I haven't managed to see over summer.  
****Hopefully I'll be settled now and it'll be easier for me to get chapters uploaded for you fine fellows.  
****Anyway, I hope you're all having a nice September, and that you're not too mad at me for taking this long to** **update.  
****As always, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and that you want to review. I know it's not much but the next chapter will be longer. And better. Cross my heart.  
**byeeee.


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